Avatar 03
by Tomogirl
Summary: After the fall of Ba Sing Se: the Aang gang have been captured, Prince Zuko has returned home, Iroh is in prison, and the Fire Nation seems to think it‘s unstoppable. Has hope been diminished or…? - Episode 8: Reminisce
1. Episode 1: Once Again

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Avatar 03

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Author Notes: My take on what might happen in Season 3. This is another one of those fics that is made to kill waiting time for Book 3's premiere. I'm not a shipper so yes, this is not a shipping story but I'll be writing things according to what we've seen in the previews (Comic Con panel, comic, commercial, etc.). This includes the "leak" so if you haven't seen them and you don't want to be spoiled, I recommend you to **not** even go past this paragraph.

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Disclaimer: All _Avatar: The Last Airbender _characters belong to Bryan and Mike, Nickelodeon, and (sighs) Viacom. All Rights Are Reserved.

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Episode 1 - Once Again

It's been almost one week since he has returned home. One week and two days since he has last seen his tea loving uncle. Four days and he barely got any sleep. Within one day and a half, he heard that his father requests an audience with him. So now, here he is, sitting in his bedroom that he can barely recognize anymore. Two years being gone and you come home expecting everything to be the same.

Except, it never did to begin with.

Prince Zuko sighed as he stared sadly at himself at his parlor mirror that was next to his bed. His outfit consisted of a royal military suit and matching boots much like the one he use to wear. Only, a bit more upgraded. His hair was neatly combed and tied into his formal hair bun held by a heirloom clip. Blinking at it, he could barely even recognize himself looking so neat and clean compared to his rugged life-style not too long ago. Shaking his head slowly, he starts again to question why. For once, he went with Azula and was surprised that what she said has been true. His honor seems to have been restored in a way that he's home again and no longer a wanted fugitive.

Yet…, why was his heart tugging at his own soul? Why does he not feel at ease at all of this? He should be happy. He can finally face his father and tell him that he's honored not to be seen as some traitor but as a…

Suddenly, knocking could be heard coming from somewhere interrupting Zuko's wandering thoughts.

"Excuse me, your highness?" a servant's voice drifted through his door. "The Princess's speech is about to begin."

Trying his best to hide most of his emotion, Zuko answered back in a rough tone without looking up, "I'll be right there." As soon as he heard the servant's echoing footsteps walk away, he stood up and faced the closed door. His eyes narrowed at the fleeting memory of his own sister.

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'No!' Aang's thoughts were running as he saw Katara getting cornered by the Dai Li. He knew, he had to do it. Forming a rock barrier around himself, he quickly went into the Avatar State. He remembered reaching his final destination and becoming one with his ultimate Avatar powers. He could feel the surge of energy roaring up within him. Then, suddenly, something went wrong. He felt himself falling. And falling.

Until…

"Ugh," light were pouring through his eyelids. He felt his body laying on something. Something cold. Then, with as much of his energy as he could muster, he started to open his eyes little by little. A bright red insignia was burning into his eyesight. As he opened his eyes wider, a sickening feeling came over him. He quickly sat up and gazed to his right side to see exactly where he was. It was a basic steel cell with no windows. Four torch lights were on both sides of the cell making the cell's lighting somewhat dim. Still, even through some of the patches that the light never touched, he could see a familiar girl dressed in blue staring back at him in surprise.

"Aang, you're awake!" Katara's voice enthusiastically cried out. Her hands were cupping her mouth as a reflex reaction.

"Katara, where are we? This looks like a Fire Nation cell," Aang looked at her still with a puzzled expression. He then looked down at himself and noticed all he was wearing were yellow pants. The top part of his body was covered in bandages. "I remember that I was able to go into my Avatar state. Everything after that is a blank. Where's Sokka? Where's Appa? Where's everyone else?"

"So you don't remember," Katara lowered her hands and looked down at the floor sadly. "You may not like what you're about to hear, but hopefully, we can get out of this mess just like usual."

Aang stared at her suspiciously before looking back to his left where at the huge red banner bearing the red flame was hanging on the wall. Quickly, he scooted away while still watching it with wide eyes. He then headed over to Katara obediently. She was sitting along the wall on her knees. Her eyes were shifting from Aang to the floor a couple of times.

"So, tell me. What happened?" Aang sat down in front of her on his knees as well. Anxiety was building up in his heart. He had to know.

Katara slowly looked back up and peered into his anxious face, "Alright, after you went into the Avatar state, Azula shot you with her lightning. You fell and I had to quickly catch you. We were about to be cornered if it wasn't for Iroh to come and save us. He used himself as a distraction while I got us out using waterbending. Once outside, I found everyone waiting for us. Even the Earth King and his pet bear! Appa flew us as far as possible from the fallen Ba Sing Se. After some time, I used the water from the spirit oasis to heal you of your ailing wound. You opened your eyes and smiled at me just like the first day we met."

At the sound of this, Aang smiled but it vanished as quickly as it came, "So Iroh is…?"

"Most likely, a prisoner of the Fire Nation just like us now."

"Ah…," Aang stared at her dumbfounded.

Katara ignored Aang's expression and continued with her story, "So after you were awake briefly, you fell back unconscious. We assumed that the healing water was working in your system so I had to move it around your body every few hours. My father and his men were waiting for us down by the water so we made Appa to drop us into his boats. We traveled to Chameleon Bay for shelter. The Fire Nation were surely on our tracks but we didn't think they'd catch up quickly so we held camp there.

"Sokka, Dad and some of his men went hunting for food. Toph and I helped out around the camp. Appa and Momo stuck around like usual. The Earth King and his bear…well… nevermind. Anyways, after camping in the bay for two weeks, we went traveling inland through the forest. We believed that it was the best course of action towards hiding ourselves further from the Fire Nation."

"So" Aang said slowly, "what happened? Wasn't that good enough?"

"Apparently, not so," Katara replied, "The Fire Nation has managed to get to Chameleon Bay as we were able to see their ash raining from the sky. We tried moving quicker inland. Then, it happened. We saw this immense collection of fire coming right at us. We had to immediately evacuate the area. Yet, by the time we could actually go anywhere, we were cornered and over-powered. One of the soldiers managed to grab you from under our protection so that forced us to surrender easily. My Father and his men were captured by one set of troops. Another set got the rest of us. Momo and Appa were the only ones who managed to get away.

So, here we are. Stuck captive on a Fire Nation ship heading straight for the Fire Nation."

"WHAT!?" this got Aang's attention fully, "We're going to the Fire Nation?"

"Yeah. Incredible, right?" Katara said it with a lot of disdain before asking Aang to turn around. Aang obeyed without any objections. He was already feeling angry by the minute. Katara gently placed both of her hands on his back and light began to emit upon contact. Moving with grace, Katara lifted her hands up into the air as the healing water smoothly flowed out of Aang's back. She then bended the healing water into its proper container. "Now that you're fully healed, you won't need the water anymore."

Aang stood up and walked back to where the Fire Nation banner was hanging high against the wall. He glared at it before sitting down again. His gaze was now focused on the floor with a dejected look. "It's my fault. I should've gone into the Avatar state earlier but because of my stubbornness, I let everyone down by doing it last minute."

"It's not your fault, Aang. I know it must've been hard for you to commit yourself to it fully," Katara got to her feet and watched him with a worried look. Her left hand was resting against her chest in a squeezed tight ball formation.

"You won't understand," he said with bitterness. "I'm fine with it being my fault. I let you guys down. I let Ba Sing Se down. Now I know, I can't let anyone else get hurt. I must be the one to face the Fire Lord by myself."

"No Aang," Katara said softly. "Don't think like that. You're not alone in this fight against the Fire Lord. I know it may look painful now, but, I'm sure everything will be al----."

"NO IT WON'T!" Aang swiveled his body around to look at Katara. His eyes brimming with anger. He never felt so humiliated in his life. Katara stared sadly at him before sighing.

"Look, we can discuss more on this later. I think it's more important to find a way out, ok?" Katara tried her best to change the subject. She didn't like it when Aang lost his temper just like when they lost Appa to a bunch of sandbending thieves.

Aang's glowered look softened before Aang turned around again to face the wall baring the banner, "You're right. I'm sorry. We should focus on getting out of here." In an instant, Aang bended air to blow himself up onto his feet.

"Toph's been telling me how she was able to manipulate metal when we were in Ba Sing Se," Katara said as she walked up to their cell door and touched it.

"Hmmm. This is steel though," Aang walked up besides Katara and placed both hands on the cell door. He closed his shut tight and began to concentrate. Several minutes later, Aang collapsed in frustration. "No good. I can't seem to bend the door."

"It's alright. You just woke up after being unconscious for days. You probably haven't recovered all of your strength yet," Katara smiled slightly and placed a hand on his shoulder. Suddenly, they heard some loud noise from the other side of the door. Some kind of commotion was going on.

"Hey! You! What are you--!?" a voice shouted before a huge "klang" cut off the voice's sentence.

"Uh, sorry!" apologized a familiar voice as it sounded to get closer and closer towards where Katara and Aang were. "Hey, are you alright, Katara!? Can you even hear me?"

"Sokka! You guys escaped?"

"Yep, Toph finally was able to bend the steel after many failed attempts. Guess she needed me for stamina or something--ow!" Sokka's sentence was also cut off. Aang and Katara could hear a loud bang hit against their door.

"Excuse me blabber mouth. I just couldn't stand hearing your voice so much in that room that I wanted to get out of there," Toph's grumpy voiced flowed through the door. "Now, stand back. I'm about to bend you out of there."

"Wait, why not use this?" Again, Aang and Katara heard some shuffling through the door, then some twinkling noise and then a click. The door then began to slowly swing open…..

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Zuko was standing on a high platform overlooking thousands of Fire Nation soldiers standing in rows. His expression hasn't really changed much from when he was in his bedroom. He was still looking sad and solemn as usual. To his far right was his sister who was standing on a much higher platform and was dressed in a similar outfit to his. Azula's arms were behind her back in a her usual commanding stance. Her eyes were looking hungrily down at the soldiers.

"This is the day we've been all waiting for! We've crushed down the outer and inner walls of Ba Sing Se. We've out-run the Earth King of his throne and taken control of the city. And above all, we have successfully captured a traitor. Someone who doesn't deserve the title of Dragon-of-the-West," Azula said with a sneer. At the mention of Iroh's nickname, Zuko looked away. Azula continued on with her glory speech. "It's such a pity that someone of my own blood ends up going against everything we've worked for. Thankfully, my dear brother over there hasn't fallen into the same fate. I thought we lost him and turned treacherous on us, but I was wrong."

Zuko snapped his head position back to facing down at the soldiers as soon as he heard the word "brother". He could feel Azula's eyes running up and down on him like a hawk. Azula then turned her attention back on the soldiers.

"Furthermore, I want to commend each and every one of you for your job well-done on the war. We still haven't fully won the battle yet, but I can guarantee you that the Fire Nation will be victorious against those who stand in our way. So are you with me?" Azula raised her voice a bit higher on her final sentence. In response to her question, the rows of soldiers roared and cheered back in a chorus of voices. Zuko looked up toward the sky and wished for the event to be over with. The knot in his stomach was getting stronger every second as his most anticipated visit was next.

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The prison door was wide open to reveal a guy, dressed all in red, and a girl, dressed in green, standing on the other side. The guy's eyes were very wide as he couldn't believe who he was seeing from the other side of the prison door.

"Aang, you're awake!?" asked a surprised Sokka who was staring back at Aang in shock. Aang was also staring at Sokka in shock.

"Sokka, you're wearing a Fire Nation's soldier outfit?" As soon as Aang asked this question, Sokka froze and looked down at himself.

"Well, yeah. After we got ourselves out, we managed to knock down a couple of the guards. I stole their clothing. Easiest way to get around, don't you think?"

Katara grinned and patted Sokka's back on her way out of the cell. "Good thinking, big brother."

Sokka smiled with an approving face. Toph gagged from hearing the scene before returning her concentration on feeling the floor for any vibrations from the guards. Katara walked along the cell hall before pausing before a brown colored tapestry hanging on the wall. Sokka turned to her with a suspicious look on his face. "And what do you think you're doing?"

Katara carefully took off the tapestry and brought it back to her companions. She held it out towards Aang who was leaning against the cell's door frame. "Here, put this on at once or you'll catch a cold wearing nothing but those bandages." Aang blushed a little as he took the tapestry and wrapped it around him.

"Thanks Katara."

"Ah-hem! I can feel Fire Nation soldiers coming in at close proximity," piped up Toph who was standing behind Sokka with her arms at her side. Everyone looked at each other in deep thought before Aang stepped out of the cell.

"Well then, we better leave before they can throw us back in! Let's go!" Aang charged right through the narrow hallway passing both Sokka and Toph. Eventually, everyone was following behind his tail. They turned corners and went through many passages throughout the hallways. Then finally, they managed to get to the door that leads them to the outside. Sokka licked his lips before turning his head towards Toph.

"Are you sure they're coming after us still? I thought this was too…. EASY!!" Sokka immediately raised his voice on his final word as a ball of flame flew past his head and hit the door. Thankfully, everyone else saw it so they ducked ahead of time. They turned around to find six soldiers walking up their hallway. Aang used his airbending to knock the soldiers off their feet and then, used another blast of air on the burning fire that was guarding the door. That only gave them some time to try to figure out how to open the door.

"Sokka, push down! Not pull up!" Katara's voice cried out as she watched her brother shove himself against the door. Toph flexed her arms before pushing Sokka to the side.

"Let me do it my way," Toph said as she placed both hands on the door. Soon, the door was able to bang open and they were free. Free that is, until they were greeted with more Fire Nation soldiers who were scattered on the ship's deck.

"It's the Avatar! They've escaped! Catch them!" someone among the soldiers shouted. At the voice's command, the soldiers dropped whatever they were doing and formed a ring around the Aang gang. Aang put his hands up in a defense pose. Toph was clenching her hands hard in mid-air as she glared back at the soldiers. Katara readied a water whip from the body of water that was rocking the ship. Sokka also placed himself in a defense position.

They weren't ready to give up just yet.

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The room was still the same from how he remembered it. It was vastly cold and dark except for the back part of the room which was engulfed in flame. A row of flame was burning from a long wall stretching from one side of the room to the other guarding a shadowed figure seated in the middle of it. Another man dressed in a long deep red outfit, was standing right beside the wall of fire and had his arms to his side as he looked out toward nothing in front of him.

"My Lord. Prince Zuko has come to see you upon your request," the man said in a humble voice. There was a brief moment of silence before the voice behind the fiery curtain spoke.

"So, my son," said the shadow figure in a disappointing tone, "you have come back to me. Empty handed without the Avatar just like your fore-fathers. Only, you brought back that traitorous brother of mine."

Zuko stared low to the floor. He was sitting on his legs at the center of the cold part of the room facing the shadowed figure who was covered by the flames. The man who addressed his presence earlier was still standing besides the wall of fire. This time, he had his arms behind his back. Zuko's father continued to speak.

"You are lucky enough that your sister allowed you to come back home. Any further mistakes and you would have been banished completely. Do I make myself clear?" The second brief moment of silence came and passed quickly. Zuko looked up towards the shadowed figure before returning his gaze towards the floor.

"Yes, Father."

"Good. Now, I have word that the Avatar has been captured. He should be arriving in less than a few days from now. I'm leaving you in charge of watching over him. Do not disappointment me again. Now go," Ozai ended his sentence with a dreary tone. Zuko stood up and made a small bow towards the shadowed figure. He turned around and kept staring at the floor. His expression was filled with disappointment of its own. This wasn't what he was expecting at all.

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Fire roared into the air as it pummeled towards the Aang gang. Katara whipped water at it to form a shield and then, it happened all too quickly. They were all split up focusing on different areas of the ship. Katara was brought farther towards the opposite end of the ship. Sokka was off to the side while Toph and Aang were left to defend themselves in the middle.

Katara managed to hold off majority of the soldiers sending them over-board. Realization hit her as she noticed the rest of the soldiers were all in the hull's area. Sokka was watching in panic since he didn't have any weapon with him. Aang, without his staff, relied solely on waterbending. The soldiers started sending fire out towards him and Toph. At the same time, they took the opportunity to walk closer to them. Aang stepped in front of Toph and bended the water to freeze making some of the soldiers to slip on it. It wasn't enough to keep the soldiers at bay. Those who were still standing started to attack again.

Three of the soldiers managed to make a combined fireball shot out at Toph and Aang. Katara's voice rang out from somewhere. "Watch out!"

Aang quickly used his firebending to catch the huge fireball and send it back towards the soldiers. The soldiers ducked as the incoming flame went right into the hull part that's sticking out. A huge explosion emitted from the impact. Huge dark clouds of smoke began billowing from the broken part of the hull. Toph's eyes narrowed as she began feeling the floor. "They're still there but.. I feel something else now. Something below us!"

Aang looked at her with a surprised face. "What?"

"Uh, guys? A little help over here!" Sokka exclaimed as he noticed a big muscular Fire Nation soldier standing several feet away from him. His expression was rather menacing. Sokka panicked as he looked both ways to find something that he could use to fend off the soldier. The soldier bared his teeth and moved his hands into a position that was to form a fire ball.

A loud bubbling sound started to rise in volume in the water behind Sokka. He was too scared to look over the ship to see what it was so he continued to focus his attention on the soldier. All of a sudden, _boom_! The water exploded upward toward the sky. Sokka's eyes were bulging as he stood rooted on his spot. The serpent's head and part of its body was looming over him. Its mouth was wide open staring at the smoking Fire Nation ship. A single roar came out.

"Ahhhh! Everyone, abandon ship!" hollered one of the Fire Nation soldiers. At once, people started to scatter and run in all different directions. The serpent roared again as it watched with interest at all the scared humans. Some of the soldiers went inside the ship's smoking hull. Others jumped overboard thinking they have a better chance trying to swim to safety. The Aang gang stood their ground among all the soldiers running past them.

"We must be in the Serpent's Pass!" shouted Aang as he saw the serpent ready to strike the ship with its long body. Katara wasted no time in trying her best to shoot water up at the serpent's belly. The serpent got splashed but it didn't go back down into the water. It only looked back at the Aang gang with angry eyes.

"Well, is that the best you can come up with?" Sokka said almost sarcastically as he couldn't let go of his stare on the serpent. Aang decided to waterbend a huge jet of water to push the serpent away. Katara joined Aang in his water wall attempt. Then, out of nowhere, everyone could hear a new noise joining the action. Another familiar loud roar coming from the sky. Aang stared up with a smile on his face.

"Appa!" Upon the moment of shouting his name, Appa appeared along with Momo as the two dashed towards the serpent. The serpent turned and stared in surprise at the flying sky bison. It roared at Appa who only roared back with a louder roar. The serpent blinked before quickly diving into the water never to be seen again. The Aang gang were stunned at what happened. Especially Sokka, whose mouth dropped pretty low.

"That's it!? That's how easy it is to scare the great ferocious serpent? Well, we should've rescued Appa much much earlier! What were we thinking leaving Appa in the hands of a bunch of sandbenders?" Sokka said a lot of this more to himself as he flailed his arms in the air. As soon as Appa and Momo landed on the ship, the magic wore off and everyone was happy enough that Appa was there to save them.

"Thank you," Aang hugged Appa's head before letting go. Appa grunted a little as he stared up at his long time companion before opening his mouth and lash out a giant lick onto Aang's face. "Hahahaha! It's been a long time haven't it?" Momo landed on Aang's shoulder as soon as Appa's licking was done. "I miss you too, Momo!" Aang rubbed Momo's head light-heartedly. Suddenly, reality hit him and the smile that he once had on vanished completely. Momo chirped before jumping off of Aang.

Meanwhile, Katara was on Appa's saddle rummaging through their supplies that they left there before being cornered by the Fire Nation guards. "Ah good. They're still here!" Katara said happily she took out four dark brownish-red cloaks from a sack. Carefully, she slid down from Appa's back and headed toward her companions. She handed out the cloaks to Sokka and Toph, but when she got to Aang, he simply shook his head in refusal.

"Aang, please take it. You'll need this when we get into the Fire Nation," Katara said as she balanced holding the additional cloak while putting one onto her self. Aang was once again wearing his bitter expression.

"No. I won't go into hiding. I'll let the Fire Nation capture me once you guys are safe and well-hidden."

"Aang, you're talking suicide!" Sokka exaggerated as he clumsily got the cloak over his head. "Besides, we won't let you go down without a fight. We're a team you know!"

"Yeah, twinkle toes!" Toph said as she punched Aang's arm. "I didn't train you to fight by yourself! You still haven't fully mastered earth yet, either." She took a huge step back as she felt another presence come closer to Aang.

"They're right, Aang. I understand that you think it's still your fault that this has happened but no one is blaming you. Toph made an excellent point as well. You didn't fully master the elements yet. That's why you still need us," Katara said with assurance. She watched as the young boy placed a hand across his chest through his tapestry cloak. His face was still absent of that usual carefree look. Katara smiled and decided to change the subject for the second time today. "I like your hair."

"I have hair!?" Aang exclaimed with widened eyes and he reached up to touch his head. He could feel the soft bristles on his head and stood there in amazement for a few seconds. "It feels sort of weird."

"Well, have no fear of being weird! Let Sokka, the hair master, teach you all about maintaining a nice eloquent style. Just-like-me," the water tribe boy pointed to his hair-do with a dignified look. Toph began to laugh as she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Dignified? Hair master? Please! If I could see, I bet it looks like a bush rather than anything fancy!"

"Actually, she's right. It looks simply like a bush," Katara stared at Sokka's hair with one eyebrow up.

"Hey, don't make fun of my warrior wolf tail!" Sokka said in a defending manner as he placed both hands on his hair. Everyone else started to laugh. Surprisingly, Aang joined in with them. As soon as the laughter died down, Aang looked at his friends solemnly.

"Um… I guess you're right. I can't work by myself. If it wasn't for you guys, I wouldn't have made it this far."

"Yes, now you're thinking in the right direction," Katara said calmly. "Didn't we all agree that we were a family?" She and Aang looked around to see heads nodding. Aang smiled in response. Sokka walked over to where Appa was and stood in front of his face.

"Everyone, group hug time!" as soon as he said that, everyone moved towards him. Katara to his right. Toph to his left feeling for their shoulders. Aang was across from him. Momo came out of nowhere and jumped back onto Aang's head. They squeezed tightly against each other as if, their bond could never be broken. A sense of peace fell over despite the sky's dark outlook.

They had a long journey ahead of them. That's for sure.

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Zuko was wistfully watching the far distance of the kingdom from on top of one of the palace's walls. His hair was no longer in its smooth clean state and tied up with the royal heirloom clip. It was now in its unkempt style that he bared when he was in Ba Sing Se. A dark muddy red cloak was draped over his royal military outfit. The sky, itself, matched his feelings pretty well. It was dark and dismal. Not a single patch in the sky. His thoughts were zooming in and out of his head as memories, themselves, encircled his confusion. Nothing felt right to him anymore.

"What's the matter?" came a worried sounding voice from behind him. Zuko didn't look up to see who it was as there was no need to do so. He felt an almost completely covered black glove touch his cheek as the source of the voice came up close in front of him. "You know you can tell me anything that's troubling your heart." Mai smiled as she edged her face closer to his. Her fingers were cold as ice as they rubbed slowly back and forth on his cheek.

Zuko stared dead ahead with his sad expression. At this moment, he couldn't feel anything. He didn't feel like doing anything. He wished he wasn't there at all. Soon, he felt Mai's lips meeting his and his eyes closed slowly further into his own despair….

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To Be Continued….

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A.N. Reminder: Please do not kill me anti-Maiko people! Remember, I am not a shipper. I am doing things according to what's been seen so far! There are "ulterior motives" at stake which you'll find sooner or later.

Side Note: I have not forgotten my Dream Saga fic but Avatar has fully captured my attention at this moment.


	2. Episode 2: Mysteries and Lies

**Avatar 03**

**Author Notes: **Uh, sorry. Haha. ; I took a three month break from this. Already, we're half-way through Book 3 and I have seen the leaked episodes of 10 and 11. Of course, this is going to be taking a different turn from what I originally planned for this fic. It really does get a bit more complicated.

To Hank-o-holic (although this is late now): Thank you, but don't worry. Even at that time, I had my own list of spoilers from IMDB. (grins)

**Disclaimer:** All _Avatar: The Last Airbender _characters belong to Bryan and Mike, Nickelodeon, and (sighs) Viacom. All Rights Are Reserved.

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**Episode 2 - Mysteries and Lies **

_Deep within a cave, an old man was trapped behind a bunch of rocks. Standing in front of him was a young boy looking down at the floor with a pensive expression on his face. His back was facing the trapped old man. Soon, the boy's head rose and he slowly turned around. The old man's eyes widened as he read the boy's expression well. _

_"Zuko…"_

_"Uncle, I've made a decision."_

_"You have? What is it?"_

_"That I should stop running away from everything. For all this time, hunting the Avatar, hiding out in Ba Sing Se, getting a new apartment… They were all a waste of time for me. I was forgetting something very important."_

_"Oh?"_

_"I was forgetting again, who I was," and with that said, Zuko instantly ran out of the cave leaving behind his dear uncle. _

_"…………That's great. Leave me here to keep the rocks company. That's no problem at all", Iroh said in an almost sarcastic tone as he began to huff and try to concentrate his body's chi into one focal point. He then clenched the rocks tightly enough so they began to feel very warm. So warm indeed that the rocks began to turn hot red. Within a few minutes, Iroh's fire bending heat melted the rocks into mini pools of molten lava. He quickly jumped away from the lava and sighed in relief that he was okay in one piece. He turned his head to look at the tunnel's entrance where his nephew ran through. He narrowed his eyes a little before dashing off towards the entrance. _

_"Zuko, what are you thinking?" he asked the question out loud, hoping he wasn't too late to stop whatever was going on at the other end of the tunnel. _

_His actions were set. His mind was clear. His sister believed him. Now all he had to do was set his plan into motion…. _

And then, he woke up with beads of sweat pouring down his face. Instantaneously, he began to panic with random thoughts that kept him up for the rest of the night.

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Four children, one Momo, and one Appa were all quietly floating through thick puffs of clouds. The sky was clear crystal blue which was completely the opposite of the condition in the world below them.

"Are we there yet? I'm tired! I'm bored! And….." complained Toph who was clutching onto Appa's saddle tightly, "I think I'm getting air sick!"

"You always have air sickness when riding on Appa," said Katara in a I-told-you-so tone of voice. "Try to pretend that you're not flying and you should be fine." She was sitting on the opposite side on the saddle facing the earthbender with one hand resting on her chin.

"How is that suppose to help me exactly?" Toph sent the older girl a slight annoyed glare even if she couldn't see. The two girls continued to have their little debate. Meanwhile, Sokka and Aang were going over several ideas as to how to hide Appa and what to do once they were in Fire Nation territory. Soon, they got down to business discussing the strategy of the invasion plan that they've been brainstorming for a few months now.

"We are still going with the plan of infiltrating the palace on the Day of Black Sun, right?" Aang asked turning slightly around from his position on Appa's head to face Sokka, who was sitting cross-legged in the saddle behind him.

"There's a problem though. There's only four of us…uh, I mean, six of us if you count Appa and Momo. If my Dad and his men were here with us, they would've helped but now, we're completely outnumbered."

"Even if Dad and his men were with us, we would've still been outnumbered," Katara spoke up cutting into her brother and Aang's discussion. "I think we should seek others for help before even going into Fire Nation territory."

"Which was what we originally planned if it wasn't for that Ba Sing Se take-over. I mean, let's face it. If we go to others for help, the Fire Nation would surely be bound on our tail as usual. Especially, when they let the Fire Lord know that the Avatar has escaped."

"….No, actually, that's not a bad idea. We should go back and….," Aang agreed to Katara's suggestion which made Sokka slap his forehead.

"We've already gone this far! Can't turn back now. If we do so, we'll lose time to even get into their territory!"

"We still have time, so yes, we can," Katara ignored her brother's expression as she crawled past him towards the airbender. "Aang, turn Appa around! We need to go back to the Earth Kingdom!" No response. Aang was no longer looking at her and Sokka anymore. Katara stared at Aang dumbfounded. "Aang?" She reached out to grab his shoulder. Sokka looked past Aang and Katara only to stare in shock.

" Uh, Katara? You might want to look up."

"What?" Katara's eyes widened as they saw a group of three dark red colored air ships coming their way.

"What's going on?" Toph asked as she was the only one sitting at the far end of Appa's saddle.

"There seems to be something heading straight for us! Funny thing is, a lot of those air ships look familiar to me," Aang said with his eyes glowering for a moment.

"Are you sure? I never saw any of those before in my life," Sokka blinked trying to get a better look at the air ship fleet. Suddenly, realization began to hit him before he could even speak. "Wait, aren't those kind of things developed by Teo's dad, the Mechanist? But that can't be…."

"I think we better hide. Those definitely must be from the Fire Nation so we should be close," Katara said as she eyed some nearby clouds.

"It's too late. They spotted us already," Aang said without taking his eyes off of the in-coming ship. "If we try to out-run them, who knows what might happen next. They'll follow us right into where they want us to be. I suggest we be ready for them." He stood up with his staff. The others were a bit more slow in reacting to Aang's decision.

"So, we get to fight again, already!? Whoo! Bring it on!" Toph said excitedly as she quickly stood up.

"But aren't you powerless since you're not on the ground?" Katara asked giving the younger girl a quick glance.

"Uh, yeah! That's right. I….," Toph quickly sat back down in the saddle looking disappointed, "….forgot. Thanks Katara for that pleasant reminder." She ended her sentence in a quieter but bitter sarcasm.

Everyone else were now standing as they held their breath in anticipation for the air ships to get closer. The strange part about this is that none of the ships were shooting any fire at them. As another brief interval of time passed, the ships were now easier to be seen with their Fire Nation emblems. They apparently weren't air ships at all, but air balloons. The same exact ones used in the Northern Air Temple.

Soon, the balloons were a few feet from Appa when they suddenly veered to the left. This left the Aang gang speechless as the balloons began to drift downward until the passengers in the balloons were eye level to level with them. Everything wasn't what they were expecting. Just like the Aang gang, who were wearing cloaks, so were the passengers in the red air balloons. Except, the passengers all had their faces covered by dark blue hoods so it was hard to even decipher what their features looked like. Some of them were taller than others. Others seemed to be around the Aang gang's height.

"Uh, hello?" Aang approached one of the slow drifting balloons which were now across from Appa's head. "Um, may I ask if you are with the Fire Nation?" Sokka stared suspiciously at each of the balloons. Katara had on a similar expression while Toph could only pay attention with her ears.

The air balloon passengers, however, only seemed to acknowledge the Aang gang's presence but they were silent. It felt more like a staring contest. Soon, the third and final air balloon was passing by in front of Aang. One of its passengers stood at the edge of the balloon and looked up towards Aang.

"Avatar," addressed a calm but loud voice. Apparently, this passenger was male. "We bring you many blessings and wishes of good will to you and your friends. We will always be by your side even if you can't see us. You and the last hope that will guide the Fire Nation out of its turmoil."

"Wait, who are you!?" Aang began to follow the balloon since it was drifting now right past Appa's stomach.

"We are the shadows in the light. Secrets of the whispers. Ancients of dreams," the passenger replied. He then threw something towards Aang, which the boy caught easily in his two out-stretched hands. "Keep that, Avatar, for you will need it someday. We bid you farewell for now. May our paths cross after hope awakens."

And soon, the balloons were barely out of sight but not out of mind.

--------------------

"So, what do you want to do today, Zuko?" asked a bored Mai as the two of them were sitting in front of the turtleduck pond. They've been boyfriend-girlfriend for almost a month now, but so far, nothing really felt real to Zuko. Even though, he believes he likes Mai and he knows she likes him back. Somehow, something inside his heart tells him otherwise. The boy has been lost in thought for the entire day now. Ever since he had that dream of what happened back in Ba Sing Se, he wasn't quite sure where the ending of it came from.

For one thing, he had no plan in mind because he was given another chance here at home. Another thing is that the Avatar has been captured. There's no need for him to repeat his banished mission. Everything should be fine for the Fire Nation's sake. Yet, he couldn't understand why the anxiety was building up inside his own mind and heart.

"Zuko? Are you listening to me?" Mai's voice finally broke through his thoughts.

"Ah! Sorry, Mai. I was just thinking," Zuko gave her an apologetic look. "So, you were asking…?"

"Well, I was just wondering what do you have in mind. Now that we have more time to ourselves."

"Oh, right. Um….," Zuko couldn't think of anything to say to her. He began to rub the back of his head when suddenly, an idea dawned upon him that could free him from her attention. "Could you excuse me for a moment? I just remembered something that I had to do." He stood up and gently bent over to give Mai a peck on the cheek. Soon, Zuko was trotting off towards one of the palace doors. Mai watched his figure fade from view. She sighed and leaned back a bit with her two hands supporting her posture.

"Aww, look Azula! Mai's waiting for her beloved prince to show up. Isn't that sweet?" a familiar playful voice spoke in earshot range.

"Yes, that is sweet. Very sweet indeed," said a second voice whose voice sounded a bit vile at the end of her second sentence.

"What are you two doing here?" Mai asked looking up at her two friends who were now standing behind her. Azula crossed her arms and gave Mai an innocent look.

"Aw, I'm hurt. What's wrong with checking up on our best friend and to see how her beautiful relationship is doing?"

"Cut the sarcasm, Azula. You came here to say something so say it now," Mai said with a slight hint of annoyance in her tone of voice. Ty Lee sat herself down beside Mai and began to do a few stretches trying to touch her toes. Azula sighed and let her arms slide to her side.

"Fine, I'll tell you just so you won't be amazed when the news gets out. We have received word by a messenger hawk that the Avatar has escaped. Most likely, he will be headed here so he can face my father during the Day of Black Sun. Of course, he won't be alone but I believe we can beat him anyways."

"So, why are you telling this to me?" Mai asked but still uninterested.

"Because my father doesn't know. Neither does my brother but he will know, eventually. By the time he does though, it will be too late for him to do anything. For now, I want you to keep all of this from Zuko. I prefer that he stays in the dark.".

"What do you have in mind for him, exactly?"

"You'll see. It's a huge surprise that's worth dying for."

"That sounds like fun!" Ty Lee whimsically cried out. "I love surprises."

"I will make it very enjoyable…. but don't worry Mai. Your beloved boyfriend won't be severely injured enough that you can't hug him," Azula said with a sneer. Mai waved one of her hands at Azula as if to shoo her off.

"Do whatever you want. He was getting rather distracted lately, anyways."

"Distracted, hm? I want you to find out what is bothering Zuzu. This might prove to be a useful advantage for me," Azula said before turning around towards one of the doorways. As soon as she got to the edge of the doorway, she quickly turned to look at the girl all dressed in pink attire who was still sitting next to Mai. "Ty Lee, come along! Zuko might come back any minute now. We do not want to spoil their quality time together now, shall we?"

"But I wanted to stay….. Alright! See ya, Mai!" Ty Lee shouted with a small wave before following Azula through her chosen doorway. Mai let out one long sigh. She finally can get the peace and quiet that she always wanted. Question was, when was Zuko returning?

--------------------

The Fire Nation's only prince opened his eyes to find himself lying face flat on the carpeted hallway floor. He soon pushed himself up slowly on his stomach to get a better look at his surrounding area. He was at the end of the hallway, which he recognized leads out towards the turtleduck pond. "How did I get here?"

"Your highness! Are you alright?" a nearby guard came rushing to aid the prince. "I was walking by on my shift and it's a good thing that I just noticed that you were here." The guard let Zuko grab a hold of his hand and helped the prince right onto his feet.

"Was there any report of intruders in the palace?" Zuko asked as he began to brush off some dust off of his clothing.

"No, sire. Not that I can recall of! You must've just simply fainted. I suspect that you haven't been having a nutritious meal. Should I go notify the kitchen to prepare something for you?"

"No! That is not necessary. I'm fine. I feel fine!"

"If that is how you feel. I shall leave you now," the guard bowed and walked back to resume his shift. Zuko started to walk towards the turtleduck pond before he recalled that he was about to do something. Now, what was it exactly?

Oh, that's right.

His uncle…….

--------------------

"What is it Aang? What did that man give you?" Katara walked over towards the young airbender's side. She noticed that he kept staring and turning over the thing in his hand. Sokka still didn't let go of his suspicious gaze which was also transfixed of the object in Aang's hand.

"It's…," Aang said as he showed the object towards his friends, "…a pai sho piece."

"What? Let me see!" Sokka exclaimed snatching the tile out of Aang's hand. He gazed at it intently. "It has a flower symbol on it. What good will this do though!? Do we use it as a decoy excuse to trick the Fire Nation soldiers into playing a game of pai sho with us!?"

"I think there's a hidden meaning in it. There's got to be a reason why that man gave us this. It has a picture of the White Lotus which usually represents purity and enlightenment. I don't get it though. That guy said something strange."

"Strange?" Katara tried her best to recall the man's message. Aang gave her and Sokka his puzzled expression as he responded.

"He mentioned something about me and the last hope."

"What's confusing about that? Aren't you the last hope?" Sokka's shifted his attention from the tile to Aang.

"Yeah, but…he said it twice and in a way that sounded like it was another person. I mean! I'm not the only one who is the last hope," as Aang spoke, he was pretty sure that he was confusing his own self.

"Maybe, he means everyone who joins in to help us to defeat the Fire Lord?" Sokka suggested on the whim.

"Question, who's everyone?" Toph's voice brought everyone more down to their senses as they all realized that they left Toph out of the loop.

"Sorry, Toph. You were too quiet so I guess we kinda forgot about you. Hehe…," Aang apologized in a nervous tone and rubbed the back of his head as he said it.

"Excuse me for being the only one suffering back here," Toph answered back in her bitter tone of voice. She then cringed her body over her legs as if she was going to hurl.

"I think we should discuss the tile later and focus on finding a safe place to rest. Toph looks worse than she usually does when riding on Appa," Katara said as she walked over to Toph's side and placed a hand on the younger girl's shoulder.

"Good idea. It's not too late to turn around and recruit help anyways," Aang nodded with one hand open. Sokka was about to give him back the tile piece when out of nowhere, Momo jumped onto Sokka's head and nabbed the piece out of his own hand.

"Hey, wait! Give that back!" Sokka began chasing Momo around Appa's saddle as Aang and Katara resumed their sitting positions. Laughter aroused among the Aang gang as there was still plenty of excitement to go around before they come across their next unknown destination.

--------------------

Before Zuko left for the prison tower, he had to put on his long brown hooded cloak. He did not want anyone, that he knew personally, to catch him fraternizing with his uncle. Especially, Azula. He didn't even want to imagine what she would've done if she spotted him going towards the tower at all costs.

Zuko slipped quietly through the palace hallways making sure no guard was to see him in this state. He then made it through a back palace door which had a pathway that led towards the main royal prison. As he approached the tower, a watch guard positioned at the second level balcony of the prison spotted the cloaked prince.

"Who goes there? State your business!" the watch guard barked. Zuko lightly lifted his hood up so he could show the guard his face. "!!….Prince Zuko! You know you are strictly forbidden of setting one foot in the prison tower."

"I am aware of that, but this is an emergency. My sister…gave me a secret request for me concerning the traitor," Zuko said in a grave voice as he glared hard at the guard. It was hard enough that he had to come up with a plausible sounding lie in such a short amount of time. He understands that he's not a good liar like his sister, but hopefully, this one was more of an improvement. The prince pursed his lips as he waited in anticipation for the guard to answer. He would've exploded and dash for the tower door if it wasn't for one of Iroh's past advices echoing in his head.

After a brief moment of silence, the guard nodded his head. "You may proceed."

"Thank you," Zuko said without looking up. He walked quickly towards the door and down a flight of stairs. Several guards stood in his way, but upon explaining that he had special clearance, the guards let him go. Soon, he reached a huge iron door which he had to use all the strength inside of him to pull it open. As soon as he was inside, he found himself in a long hallway lined with prison cells on both sides.

"Uncle," he whispered into the darkness. "Uncle, it's me." Zuko's voice became louder with each step he made in the hallway. He peered into every single cell trying to see if he spot a familiar outline. Eventually, his eyes set upon an old man dressed in a dirty rag cloak. The man was sitting cross-legged with his back facing the cell door. Zuko quickly put his face up-close to the bars. His two hands gripped the bar so tight, it looked as if he could probably try to melt the bars as well.

"Uncle! Why!? Why did you do it!? You could've been a hero with me! You chose to side with the Avatar instead. You rather choose imprisonment than freedom! Is that it!?" Zuko squinted at the dark silhouette as if he had a special ability that could allow him to see through Iroh. He heaved in a heavy breath waiting in anticipation for a response. A reason. That's all he asked for. Minutes passed, and all he got was a few grunts from his uncle. The two of them were mostly in silence. It was so quiet that trickles of water could be heard dripping from one part of the cell hallway.

Zuko soon had enough of the eerie quietness so he began to speak more.

"I----I am going mad right now because even though, we're back home… Even though, everything I always wanted is happening at this moment…. Every day. Every waking moment, I know at the back of my mind that I'm not happy about something! That something doesn't feel right and I hate feeling this way!" Zuko paused mid-sentence of his small rant. He didn't know why he suddenly said all this stuff but somehow, he felt better saying this in front of Iroh than anyone else in the palace. "I came down here to ask for your advice. I'm confused as to what to do, Uncle. Please show me a way out of this." His eyes looked longingly at the Dragon-of-the-West who did not move a single budge at all.

Another small period of silence blanketed them before the Fire Nation prince erupted.

"Fine! Stay mute and rot in that cell of yours, stupid old man! I'm leaving!!" Zuko shouted as he quickly turned to face the cell's main door. He only took three steps before he felt a pang at the back of his head. Zuko's eyes widened as he saw his world turning black and the hallway's floor coming very close to his face. The last sounds he could hear was his uncle's voice shouting his name….

--------------------

The Aang gang easily found land as soon as they penetrated through the clouds. It was a rather huge island, but it looked to be deserted except for tall trees protruding from its land mass. As soon as Appa's six legs landed on the island, Toph was the first person to jump out of the saddle and onto the island's soft sand. "Laaaaaaaaaaaand!" she cheerfully shouted and fell backwards onto it. Her arms and legs moved up, down, left, and right, as if she was trying to make an angel.

"Looks like Toph made a hundred percent recovery," Katara optimistically said as she watched the young earthbender roll in the sand like crazy.

"But I didn't," whimpered a pained Sokka whose face was covered with scratches. His eyes wandered slowly towards Momo, who was now perched on Aang's shoulder and was still holding onto the Pai Sho tile. Aang looked at Sokka with an apologetic face.

"Sorry about that, Sokka. Looks like Momo needs to be trained better."

"Whatever," grunted Sokka as he stomped off towards the water. Katara bended some healing water out of her pouch and quickly chased after her brother.

"Sokka, wait!"

Aang watched them for a brief moment before sighing and looked up at Momo who only titled its head in response.

Night time fell quickly on the Aang gang. They managed to set up camp and a fire. Each member took turns in getting food and other supplies that they could find. Their discussions went towards different topics as usual. Some of them tried to brainstorm of what to do about the Day of Black Sun. Others wondered exactly of how they were going to survive going through the Fire Nation. Aang seemed to be the only one, who was feeling a bit apprehensive about the whole thing. The last time he was in the Fire Nation was over a hundred years ago. He already passed the stage of disbelief that the Fire Nation was no longer the peaceful nation that he once remembered.

"So, what do you think, Aang?" Sokka's voice intervened into his wandering thoughts.

"Huh? Think of what?" Aang asked indicating that he wasn't paying attention at all.

"Of my current invasion plan."

"We have a new invasion plan!?" Aang asked again but this time, sounding bewildered.

"Alright. Let me explain again. We back track to the closest places that we've been to and seek help from them. Then, we build up a resistance army, take over a few Fire Nation ships, and we'll be sailing through Fire Nation waters like it was nothing. Aang, you'll be the one to go on ahead of us since the Fire Nation can't easily catch you as long as you have that glider of yours."

"Wait, me go on ahead!? But…"

"Isn't your destiny to face one on one with the Fire Lord? Thought, you were ready to go all out at the Fire Nation alone, yesterday"

"Yeah but…"

"Then I don't see what the problem is," Sokka raised one eyebrow at Aang as he grabbed his bag and took out a rolled up piece of parchment. He unrolled and flattened it out before him. Apparently, it was the map of the four nations. "I think we're on this island." He pointed one finger at a tiny wiggly shape of land mass that was located in-between both the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation. "I recognized it right away from when we were up in the air. Did a double check with Appa earlier before it got dark just to make sure. We're actually closer to the middle part of this ocean area so that gives us the time we need to re-visit several places."

"So what do you think, Aang? I know it sounds simple but it's the only resolution we came up with. Also, the only one where Sokka is actually thinking for once," Katara said as she gave her brother a smug look. Sokka crossed his arms with a humph. Toph started to laugh immediately.

"It's great! We know Sokka actually has a brain! Hahahah!"

Soon, the group got quiet. It took several minutes before Aang responded to Katara's question, but in a solemn voice that got louder as he spoke. "But what if this plan doesn't go well. What if the Fire Lord is stronger than me? I didn't master fire and I still don't want to! Can three elements be enough to face him? Aren't I the Avatar?"

"Aang," Katara leaned over so her head was besides Aang's, "I believe you can do it. It's worth a shot. Knowing three elements is better than just one alone." Aang blushed a bit from feeling Katara so close to him. He then bowed his head, which showed that he's thinking it out.

--------------------

In a disclosed secret location somewhere far far away, the group of Fire Nation balloons were slowly drifting onto a flat surface of land. Someone was down there waiting for them. That person was also shrouded in a cloak and was holding up a torch. As soon as everyone was out of their balloons, they headed quickly up a hill. They moved silently without stopping. Eventually, they arrived at a small cottage that had very dim lighting inside. One of the cloaked people stepped up among the members and knocked on the door.

A few shuffling sounds and whispers could be heard from within the door. Suddenly, a small sliding peep hole in the middle of the door opened to reveal a pair of green emerald eyes. The man behind the door peered cautiously at the hooded person on the other side.

"Who knocks at the guarded gate, fellow traveler?"

"One who has eaten the fruit and tasted its mysteries," the cloaked person answered with a hidden smile. The real meeting has only begun.

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**To Be Continued….**

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**A.N.: **So, an uncertain Aang, a confused complicated Zuko, and OWL members. Oh my… :D What have I done? Next episode is going to take something from one of my non-Avatar fics and bring it to the next level. ………..Poor Zuko….. It's fun to torture him.


	3. Episode 3: Suspicion

**Avatar 03**

**Author Notes: **I guess, this fic can be continued to now kill the waiting time for (Chapter 11, episode 312) "The Western Air Temple" since that won't come out for awhile. This chapter marks this fic becoming more like fan fiction (craziness), finally!

Hm, as for what to expect to happen in 312. Zuko begs for forgiveness, the Aang gang are reluctant to let him in first, and we will probably still find out some things that were never known before. I keep getting a feeling that there has to be something beyond just an empty temple. Oh, and it'll be interesting to see a dual sword vs. broad sword fight between Zuko and Sokka. Too bad, the second half of Book 3 are only a few episodes before everyone has to get serious again in the finale of the "eclipse".

**Disclaimer:** All _Avatar: The Last Airbender _characters belong to Bryan and Mike, Nickelodeon, and (sighs) Viacom. All Rights Are Reserved.

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**Episode 3 - Suspicion**

Aang sighed as he forced himself to snuggle against Appa's soft fur. He tried many times to sleep but the slumber would not come. It was all due to him not being able answer to Katara and his fellow friends. Why couldn't he answer? If he was heck-bent before of going off to the Fire Nation, why was he not feeling confident now?

After a few more tosses and turns, Aang gently pushed himself away from Appa. He airbended himself to his two feet and walked over to the shore. Before making it to the shore though, he paused briefly to look sadly at Katara, who was snoozing peacefully in her sleeping bag as usual. Sokka had his mouth open with trickles of saliva coming out, while Momo was sleeping on his chest. Toph, was sleeping on the ground without anything over or under her.

Once Aang was on the beach, he quietly took off his shoes and let his toes sink into the cool sand. The beach was definitely soothing his spirit. He hasn't felt this relaxed since before the invasion of Ba Sing Se and its downfall. At the thoughts and memories of that once grand city, Aang instantly clenched his fists. Images of his and Katara's showdown with Azula and her brother flashed quickly through his mind for probably the umpteenth time. He didn't even know what to think of Zuko anymore. Zuko's uncle, Iroh, told them that there was good inside him but Sokka made an excellent point as well.

Aang snorted that thought of Zuko out in anger and let himself fall backwards flat out onto the sand. His hands were now supporting the back of his head as his eyes were now gazing up at the night sky. Then, the realization hit him as he quickly caught sight of a shooting star.

If he failed going into the Avatar State, doesn't that mean he won't be able to defeat the Fire Lord's comet? Is that why he's so nervous? If they failed the invasion during the Day of Black Sun….

--------------------

Iroh was no longer reeling in shock of the event that just happened a few hours ago. It was as if, it was pure magic and perhaps, Agni's own miracle. He shifted his legs on the cold cell floor until he found them to be in another comfortable position. He was now facing the cell bars staring at the very spot where his nephew use to stand. Correction. "Part" of his nephew.

Well, whatever just happened, this was an obvious advantage to his special little break-out-of-prison plan. The former Dragon-of-the-West chuckled a bit to himself. If his nephew was this capable of being this compassionate, he surely wouldn't be surprised as to the events that were to follow.

Iroh grunted slightly as he suddenly heard someone approaching the prison cell hallway main door. He instantly fell flat on his belly and quickly tried to mess up his hair a bit. His mouth began to drool a little saliva as his eyes followed the sounds of the prison door opening, closing, and heavy boots hitting the floor.

_Step. Step. Step. Clang! _A guard was now standing at the edge of his cell bars holding a tray. His eyes bared down coldly on his former respected general. "You are fortunate that no punishment was to be latched on your retched soul for what you did to His Highness."

Iroh grunted in reply as he crawled himself towards the bar doors. His right hand was out-stretched towards the guard as if he was in a pleading for mercy. As soon as Iroh's hand wrapped itself around a bar, the guard pinned his boot against Iroh's fingers. Iroh tried his best to suppress a painful yelp but he could not hold back his expression. The guard smiled to himself in satisfaction as he continued to increase his pressure on Iroh's fingers.

"Please…." Iroh moaned, "…I'm….sorry…." His teeth were beginning to grit but he made sure not to let the guard see them.

"Good," the guard eventually let his boot off of Iroh's now sore deep red fingers. "I would hate to see the Dragon-of-the-West lose those nice fingers of his. He would no longer have any ability to pick up a fancy tea cup. Isn't that a pity?" The guard grinned sinisterly at Iroh before dropping the tray that he was holding onto the floor. Its contents spilling out all over. "Your dinner," those were his final words before walking out of the prison cell hallway laughing to himself. He definitely did not forget to slam the prison door hard after he went through it. The door's slamming vibration echoed back throughout the cell bars.

Iroh rubbed his sore hand as he glanced at the spilt food with a stern look. Hopefully, his wait was all worth the pain and misery that followed this cruel prison system.

--------------------

"Hey sleepyhead! You awake?" Sokka's voice penetrated through the younger boy's earlobes while light was pouring through his eyelids.

"Just give me a few more minutes," Aang said sleepily as he turned so his back was facing Sokka. The water tribe boy stood straight up from his bending position and called for Toph to come over towards them. Once she was by Sokka's side, the older boy whispered his request through Toph's ear. She nodded before placing one leg out and had her arms bended back. Her hands were in a diagonal position pointing downward. Then, it happened. Aang was sinking into the sand.

The airbender's eyes slowly opened before they could fully pop open, "huh?" He tried to look down but all he met in his field of vision was sand. "Wait. WHAT HAPPENED TO MY BODY!?" With an instant reaction, Aang urged his earthbending to push himself out through the sand.

"Twinkletoes, that was classic!" grinned Toph trying hard not to laugh. 'What happened to my body!?' Sheesh, didn't think you were that paranoid of loosing it. Thought you'd be use to it after you go through all those out of body experiences into the spirit world."

Aang was brushing the sand off of his body but froze when he heard her mention the "spirit world". He didn't want to remember anything that is involved, or related to, the Avatar Spirit. "So, what do we have planned for today?" he hesitatingly asked trying to change the subject.

"Well, we plan to fly over to the Northern Air Temple first, and see if we can get the Mechanist's help," Sokka said as he scratched the back of his head.

"Great! I'm going to get some breakfast before getting Appa ready for the trip then! Thanks for waking me up!" Aang said in an excited tone and headed back to their camp. Toph lifted her head silently at Aang's direction.

"What is it?" Sokka asked noticing concern spreading across the earthbender's face. She blindly stared in surprise of her own discovery too.

"Aang's heartbeat went pretty fast when he asked what we were going to do today." That quote of hers got the full undivided attention of Sokka. He too started to look at Aang's, now small, figure in the distance and wondered exactly what was going on.

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Azula was leaning against the wall with her arms cross. She was right across from her brother's bedroom. A bored expression was painted across her face. Soon, she was joined by a girl all dressed in pink.

"What are you doing, Azula?" Ty Lee smiled when asking and leaned herself against the wall next to the Fire Nation princess.

"Waiting for my foolish brother to wake up. He's been unconscious ever since they found him laying on the floor in front of Uncle's cell. Can you believe that? I thought they were chummy with each other. Suppose, I was wrong about that," Azula said as she looked to the side before returning her gaze to the door.

"Hmmm. Are you sure they aren't trying to trick you or anything?" Ty Lee asked in an innocent sounding voice. Azula rolled her eyes in response.

"Please, my brother isn't even capable of lying well in front of me."

"That's true…."

"Although, now that you mentioned it. It could still be a possibility," Azula expressed her usual devious smile when saying this. Her brother may be a bad planner but it's not the first time he's ever tried to fool her. Of course, many of the attempts that he tried to do so, they all failed in her eyes.

"Your Highness!!" shouted a guard as he came dashing right up to where Azula and Ty Lee were. He bowed before Azula before continuing on. "There has been news from the inner palace city!"

"News? What news?" Azula asked sounding half interested in what the guard has to say.

"A-apparently, there was an incident in the market area between a commoner family and a merchant. The family were outside visitors but didn't have enough money to pay the vendor. They were short by a few coins so they tried to bargain with the vendor. The vendor refused any of their offers so they were about to leave, but it was their younger son who caused trouble. He was caught trying to steal from the vendor."

"And why exactly should I be concerned about this news? This is common in our city is it not?"

"But before the city guards could do anything about the little thief, that young boy was saved by someone."

"Oh dear. How exciting," Azula said now in a sarcastic tone of voice. "You don't suppose he'd be wearing a cape and carrying around a dashing sword?"

"How dreamy sounding," Ty Lee placed her two hands at her cheeks as she, herself, had on a dreamy expression. The guard shook his head in reply to Azula.

"Actually, he was wearing a black cloak and hood so no one were able to see who he was exactly. His fighting technique was unlike anything the guards saw."

"Enlighten me," said Azula as she cocked her head a little.

"Well, he didn't use any bending but he didn't use any weapon either. He just used himself to fight against our guards."

"And the guards lost. Thus, loosing sight of this mysterious savior and the family am I right?"

"Uh…precisely," the guard sheepishly confirmed.

"Sigh. Never expected our city to have such a lousy guard system. Are you here to get my approval for some kind of warrant against this 'savior' who defied the guards?

"…..Well, no. Not exactly, because we did so already but we have suspicions that it could be the Blue Spirit."

"Really now. I heard of this so-called 'spirit' but what made you think it would be him?"

"Some of the guards reported seeing a mask under the stranger's hood. Yet, it wasn't the color blue. They thought the color looked to be copper or something like that."

"I thought you said no one could see his face?"

"That's right though, your Highness. 'His face' but not his 'true face', if you get what I mean."

"Do you think he's a threat to my father?"

"We….we don't really know. We just know that he means trouble for us, guards, so we have to apprehend him at all cost. He was the one who, after all, helped the Avatar to escape once. Thought you'd be interested in that."

"Uh-huh. So why is the Blue Spirit in our city, may I ask? Have you ever pondered as to why he's here?"

"We have not gotten to that yet, your Highness. We just assumed that he snuck in as his true self while going through the border control and the city's entrance," the guard ended his sentence with a serious note.

Azula began to rub her chin in deep thought. She eyed her brother's door just for a moment. It would make sense if her brother was the Blue Spirit. Admiral Zhao would never dare hand over the Avatar over to the Prince so of course, her brother had to formulate a way to get the Avatar back. Then again, it did not make sense for her brother to be doing this kind of thing here. Sneaking out of the palace without getting caught and going out of his way just to save a bunch of peasants? Impossible. There was no way that would happen. He was unconscious so he wouldn't even have a chance to get out there.

Azula looked up at the guard with a serious look, "Is that all you have to report to me? You may be dismissed if so." The guard silently bowed low before leaving Azula and Ty Lee alone once again. Ty Lee looked up at her friend with a questionable look. Azula had her head lowered as she began to think of what to do next, and whether she should involve herself in the Blue Spirit issue or not.

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The Aang gang were now on Appa's back once again. Their journey to the Northern Air Temple was probably going to take them another day or so.

"Wow, it feels like a long time since we last saw them," Katara said as she couldn't believe it herself that it was only less than four months since they were there.

"Yeah….," Aang agreed solemnly from his sitting position at the front of Appa. There was little to talk about now. Sokka was laying on his back but couldn't help but to give a few glances towards Aang's back every so often. Toph was sitting casually compared to yesterday where she was clinging badly to Appa's saddle. Apparently, a stop on land was what she needed to help her calm her air sickness.

"Hey" Aang said all of a sudden breaking the group's silence, "what happens if a firebender joined our group?"

"Say what!?" this got Sokka on his knees and his hands were planted directly on the saddle. His eyes were staring wide-eyed at Aang's back.

"Well," Aang began to fiddle with Appa's reign a little as he continued with his idea, "the Avatar is suppose to master the four elements. Jeong Jeong only taught me a little bit. I think, I would need a more permanent master to teach me if I ever do decide to use firebending in the future."

"Aang, you will have to learn it eventually. There's no point in trying to run away from it," Katara said in a direct voice.

"I know, I can't just run away from it but, what I did to you…. I can't forget it," Aang said as his voice got quieter at the end. His voice went back to its normal tone by what he had to say next. "Firebending is dangerous. I don't have the confidence of being able to control it very well."

"Feh. Who needs fire bending? Water is definitely better than fire!" Sokka said proudly falling back on the saddle and rolled onto his back. Aang didn't know how to respond towards that so he decided to remain quiet for the rest of the trip. Soon, a bit of squabble was taking place behind him.

"Oh yeah? You could say water is better than fire but… EARTH is better than any of them!" Toph's voice rang loud.

"Prove it," Sokka said in a lax tone of voice as he shrugged off Toph's statement like it was empty air. Toph bared her teeth as she managed to crawl, feel, and punched Sokka on the arm.

"You're not helping….," she grumbled.

"What?" Sokka didn't understand exactly what the earthbender was trying to accomplish.

"Are you guys scheming up something behind Aang's back?" Katara asked out of the blue. Her eyes were looking at Sokka and Toph suspiciously.

"What do you think it looks like we're doing?" Toph asked like it was pretty clear. "Of course we're scheming up something behind Aang. We are trying to get Aang to speak out more than his fear!"

"We are?" Sokka asked looking bewildered. He looked from his sister to Toph to Aang, and then back again to Toph.

"And what's wrong with Aang? Shouldn't you leave him alone and wait until he's ready to talk?" Katara's voice was beginning to rise.

"Well, what if I don't want to wait because I'm getting tired of seeing him mope like that!" Toph raised her voice even higher and pointed towards Aang. "Back on land, I could easily feel that something wasn't right with him. He wasn't acting himself lately."

"That's because he's going through a lot right now. Wouldn't you do the same thing if you were in his position?"

"Of course not! I'd tell someone about my problem as long as I know I can trust that person completely!" Toph words stunned everyone knowing that she was right in that sense. Aang was hit the hardest but he still didn't say anything. Another period of silence followed suit. Katara and Toph decided to give themselves some breathing room before facing each other with apologies. Sokka was lying on his back again watching each cloud pass by them but have finally decided what to do once they reached the temple.

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"_Not again," Zuko said staring in horror as he was standing in a pool of water. He was dressed in a long white gown but that didn't bother him one bit. What bothered him was what was in front of him. Images of what happened in Ba Sing Se were constantly appearing before him. "Go…. Go away!!" he screamed at the projections. _

_"I cannot make them go away," said a new voice. It sounded like a disembodied voice of a child and yet, this voice sounded familiar to him. Very familiar._

_"Who are you? Show yourself!" Zuko whipped his head all around him. _

_"I am here," the voice said again and this time, a bit more concrete sounding. Zuko glared hard at every direction he could find. _

_"Where's 'here'!? What do you mean by that?"_

_"You still don't get it. Look down." Zuko, as much as he realized what he was going to be looking at next, did what the voice told him to do. He saw his reflection staring back up at him. Wavering and moving with the flow of the water. Then, the unthinkable happened. His reflection began to speak, "I told you already. I cannot make those images go away. You are the one who's suppose to do that, remember?" _

Prince Zuko quickly shot himself up from his bed and fell right onto his floor. He could feel his heart beating every second. Running a hand through his mossy hair, he sighed in relief that it was all just a dream. He didn't know whether it was a nightmare or not, but he was just glad to be out of it. Then, a new realization fell over him. He wasn't in the prison cell hallway anymore. He was in his bedroom and was even wearing his royal pajamas.

Zuko heard voices outside his room so he walked towards his door and quickly yanked it open. His sudden appearance surprised Azula and Ty Lee that their voices were immediately stilled. Azula quickly regained her composure and took a few steps towards her brother. "Why Zuzu, good morning. Hope you had a pleasant sleep thanks to our no good for nothing uncle."

"What are you talking about? I just need to know what happened," he demanded straight on at his sibling. "And don't tell me stories either." Azula smiled at her brother's accusation but didn't mind one bit about it.

"Well, all I know is that you disobeyed an order, went to see Uncle, and the next thing I hear, you were knocked out unconscious in front of his cell. Don't you think by now that Uncle doesn't like you anymore? You're no longer like him. An outcast of the Fire Nation has regained his honor and his place."

"That's not true. Uncle would never do anything to hurt me."

"Oh yeah? Well, what do you last remember in that hallway?" Zuko began to think back trying to stir his memory. A half of a minute passed before he could speak it out.

"Uncle gave me the silent treatment and I was about to leave. Then, I felt a pain at the back of my head and that's the last thing I could remember."

"See, it wasn't so hard. You're such a smart Zuzu," Azula said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. "Anyways, how else were you suppose to fall down unconscious? It had to be by physical force. There's no other way possible."

"……I still don't believe you about Uncle," Zuko said stubbornly before marching back to his room.

"Suit yourself," Azula said while looking up at the ceiling before moving her eyesight back to focus on her brother's retreating figure. "Oh yes, if you haven't jogged the rest of your memory yet, you left Mai waiting for you at the turtleduck pond for an entire day. How ungentlemanly of you do so." This got Zuko to pause right as he got to his door before closing it quickly behind him. The teenager dashed right away to his royal wardrobe and began to dress himself quickly.

In several minutes, he was fully dressed and ready to go to Mai's house to apologize. He stormed out of his bedroom door only to stop again just for a bit in surprise to see Azula and Ty Lee still standing there in front of his room. "I did not ask for you to spy on me."

"Oh, were we spying? Oh no. We're just here because we wanted to make sure you were ok," Azula gave her brother the most innocent look she could fake. Ty Lee nodded in agreement with Azula.

Zuko, of course, didn't look anywhere beyond being convinced of it. "Since when did you start to care, Azula?" and in the next second, he was down the hall in a mad dash.

"Finally, time to see what we can find in his room, shall we?" Azula pushed herself away from the wall and headed into Zuko's room. Ty Lee followed suit with excitement etched all over her face.

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**To Be Continued….**

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**A.N.: **Shorter chapter than the last two. Probably one of the most fun ones that I've typed out so far. Poor Uncle. And for anyone getting a little confused with Zuko's random black outs. Eh, that'll be explained sometime later.


	4. Episode 4: Coriander Coltsfoot

**Avatar 03**

**Author Notes: **I was meaning to post this chapter earlier this weekend but I forgot to bring my external HD back with me to home. (So sorry to those who are checking back constantly.) This story was saved on that HD so there wasn't much that I could do about it. The good side of it though is that I already typed up most of Episode 5. Probably expect to release it later in the week.

This chapter is mostly Zuko's story since the Aang gang are still up there flying. Had lots of fun going through it. My intention is to confuse some of you. Also, new characters are introduced (much like any fan fiction now) but I'll make sure to keep the new character count very low.

To jliljj: If you can recall from the show, Zuko had to learn everything on his own. So, after he was banished, he should've been able to find someone who can teach him how to fight with swords. Reminds me of a character from the manga "Kazan" where a girl, who can make water, learns how to fight with a stick because she understands that using her main power can hurt other people. She wants to rely on a strength other than water. (:D)

**Disclaimer:** All _Avatar: The Last Airbender _characters belong to Bryan and Mike, Nickelodeon, and (sighs) Viacom. All Rights Are Reserved.

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**Episode 4 - Coriander Coltsfoot **

Prince Zuko ran non-stop past servants, maids, and guards alike. Many of them were surprised of seeing the prince so full of energy. Their thoughts comprised of wondering why he was skipping his breakfast and why he didn't request for any servant to help him dress. Regardless of what they thought, it didn't matter at all to Zuko. He was too quick for any of them to grab a hold of him. In no time, Zuko was standing by the palace's main gates panting loudly. As soon as he felt that he caught a hold of his breath, he asked for the gates to be opened. The guard, who was controlling the gates, was staring in awe at the prince before he fulfilled the request.

The huge two door gate creaked open. People passing by the royal square stopped in their tracks to see who was coming out through the gate. Soon, a couple of screaming fan girls came rushing towards Zuko. The palace guards took action immediately and blocked the fan girls from even reaching within ten feet away of him.

Zuko took a slight glance at the fan girls before continuing on his small journey. He was feeling completely awkward just seeing a small crowd of girls of any age screaming out his name and telling him that they'll marry him someday. What Zuko didn't notice was that right next to the screaming fan girls was a large red box with a curtained window and two wooden poles built in underneath the box. A nicely dressed man, who was standing next to the box, ran directly into the prince's path and gave Zuko a humble bow.

"Sire, you seem to be going somewhere in a hurry, today. Would you like a ride?" offered the royal chair carrier. His left hand had its palm open aiming right at the red box. Zuko stared impatiently at the carrier.

"No thanks! It's not too far from here," he brushed past the carrier and started up a dash again towards a huge house that was sitting several feet away from the palace gates. Once he got up the stairs and to the front door of the house, he tried his best to maintain a poise before knocking on the tall dark wooden door.

It took a minute before the door opened. An elegant dressed elderly man was standing in the doorway.

"May I help you, sir?" asked the servant but changed his view point once he peered closer at Zuko, "Oh, I'm so sorry, your Highness! I did not recognize you looking so…worn out." He tried to find a right wording to say without trying to insult the prince. Apparently, Zuko was wearing his clothing a bit sloppy and his hair was not combed in any way. "I'm afraid you will have to come back later. The mistress is still sleeping at this moment. I will let her know that you've come for her."

"Thank you," Zuko bowed slightly before turning around to leave. Suddenly, an idea came to him and he turned back to face the servant who was about to close the door. "Wait! Can I ask you something?"

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"So far, I found nothing. What about you?" asked Azula as she dropped Zuko's pillow back onto the bed.

"Nope. Nothing, " said Ty Lee as she poked her head over the bed's canopy. The two girls were taking their time looking through every crack and cranny of Zuko's bedroom. They made sure not to mess anything up. Azula placed her hands at her sides and began scanning the room trying to think of where else they should be looking. She did come across one interesting object which was a small picture of Ursa. Upon seeing it, she snuck it inside her shirt and carried on as if nothing happened.

Overall though, there wasn't much in the room compared to hers. Zuko doesn't seem to have too many material goods which leaves the room a more simpler and cleaner feel. Azula sighed and made her way to the bedroom doorway. "I suppose there could be another place in the palace where he could hide them. Let's go look around, Ty Lee."

"Ok!" Ty Lee back flipped onto the floor from the canopy. She seemed to have enjoyed her time being up there. Both girls left Zuko's room in silence.

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A long line was growing outside the inner city gateway. Merchants. Traders. Visitors. All different kinds of people were standing with scratching heads wondering what exactly was going on at the front of the line. All they wanted was to get into the main part of the royal capital and do their business like usual. Little did they know that their nation's own prince was the one holding up the entire line trying to get out.

"I have to go to somewhere. Please let me through!" Zuko asked in a hard voice towards the two guards who were blocking his way.

"I'm sorry your Highness. We can't let you through without a royal escort. No one knows who you are in the outer part of the capital. Whatever happens to you out there will be our responsibility and we can't risk having the Fire Lord burning our backs for this," said one of the masked guards. This got Zuko extremely angry and he began to raise his voice.

"Since when did my father ever forbid me from leaving!? I'm the prince! I should be free to go wherever I want. I've been outside the Fire Nation for three years! No one knows me there and I don't care!! So, again. Let me THROUGH!" Zuko shouted as he tried to thrust his body to go past the guards. The two guards immediately held up their hands to catch the prince, by his arms, from going through.

This time though, they didn't try to push him back. The two guards looked at each other as if they were communicating through their minds. One of them made a nudge towards the outer part of the capital and then looked down at Zuko's struggling form. The other guard made a nod that signed their agreement.

"Alright, we changed our minds. We'll let you through. Just be sure to be back before the sun goes down. Our shift ends then and the guards who'll be replacing us are trainees. They won't recognize you at all."

Zuko felt their hands letting go of his arms. The feeling of freedom came sinking into his feet and the rest of his body slowly. Without looking back, he said to the guards, "don't worry. I won't forget," and he was off running past the long line of people. Some of them cursed at the prince for making them have to wait so long. Their insults bounced off of him like he was protected by an invisible shield. The way to the outer city was a lengthy one as Zuko had to go down two slopes and up a hill.

Sooner or later, he arrived at the edge of the outer city. In all his life, he's only been through the area and has never really went around to experience any part of it. The outer city was definitely different from what he was use to seeing in the inner part. The houses were smaller. Many of them were not fancy looking. There were even several shabby and run-down buildings. Even the street was paved unevenly unlike the inner city where it's nice and straight.

Now that he's arrived, what now? He was able to spot a chubby man, with a mustache, standing around doing nothing so he walked over to him.

"Excuse me, sir? I need some directions." The man looked down at Zuko in surprise before looking indifferent again.

"Yes, boy? What is it that you must know from an insignificant one like me?" the man asked with a pitiful sounding voice tone. Zuko blinked as he didn't expect the man to say it in such a complex way.

"Well, I'm not from around here and I was just wondering if you could tell me or show me where the flower shop is? I hear that this part of the city has a well-respected one?" The man stared at Zuko for a moment before responding with a light-hearted laugh.

"Oh, you mean 'Coriander Coltsfoot'? You must be from the inner city, yes?" Zuko's eyes widened in reaction and began to panic a little.

"How did you know!?"

"Oh, I could easily tell with what you said and your clothing. It's too nice lookin'! People around here. Aw, they don't wear that kind of lavish stuff." Zuko looked down and for the first time noticed the vast difference of his clothing to the man's. He was beginning to wonder whether he should've gone back to the palace first to change into something that didn't make him stand out.

"Right….," the prince looked back up at the man. "Well, can you please show me the way? This is kind of an emergency here. I'll even pay you if you want."

"Hey kid! I'm just showing you, ey? Hahaha… Who, in this world, pays for directions? And I don't need the money. I'm content as it is in this life. Anyways, you're planning on giving a flower to a girl! Am I right? Am I right!?" the man grinned giving a nudge to the boy, who felt his cheeks beginning to burn a little. "Ah, don't worry. Just teasin' ya. This way please," the man winked before he started to walk in a particular direction. Zuko was more than pleased to follow suit. In fact, there was something in this man that reminded him of someone very close to him. Is this why he could easily feel calm around this man? Then, the words came out of his mouth before he realized it.

"Sir, may I ask what your name is?"

"My name? It's Xuan Meng. Yours?" ("Xuan" pronounced "one")

"It's…" Zuko was still wondering why he felt the need to communicate more with this commoner, "….Lee."

"Lee? Just 'Lee'?"

"I rather not reveal my full name. In case, uh, someone notices I'm here. You see, I'm not really suppose to be here," he gave the man a nervous smile. Technically, he was telling the truth in this statement.

"Oh, I see. So your father must be some hot shot nobleman or government official?"

"Yes! I mean, that is correct."

"Yeah, I understand. Still, it must be awfully nice to live up there where everything is cleaner and all," Xuan said as he rounded a corner. Zuko looked down sadly.

"I guess…."

"Eh? Well, you don't sound too happy about it," Xuan raised an eye brow and looked over his shoulder at Zuko. The boy, with his head still looking down, shrugged and shook his head indicating that he didn't want to discuss anything beyond that.

Soon, they arrived at an open air store that was ridiculously filled with lots of flowers. Panda lilies, tiger lilies, tulips, roses, alpina, maisies, and more. They were either placed on carts or lined up on the ground. A huge brown sign bearing the name "Coriander Coltsfoot" was sitting over the store. The sign's nails were hammered in crudely.

"Well, here we are! The best place in the whole damn city to get all your flowers. I hear they cater to the royal palace sometimes, too," Xuan smiled proudly at the store. Zuko shifted his eyes a little upon hearing that.

"Oh, so that's where all their success comes from?"

"Yep, it's remarkable. Getting even recognition among royalty," Xuan said as he changed his body position to face the direction from where they came from. He then started to walk, at the same time, wave back at Zuko. "Well, I'll be on my way now. It was nice meeting you, Lee! Hope you find what you're looking for!"

Zuko nodded his head towards Xuan as his response to saying "thanks". Soon, he was alone again. To Zuko's relief, there was no one in the shop, with the exception of the shop keeper, who apparently looked to be close to Zuko's age. The shop keeper came out of the inside part of the store sporting a white apron and a crew (or butch) cut hair style.

"Welcome to Coriander, sir! Can I help you?" he asked without looking at Zuko as he was paying attention to cleaning a flower pot that was in his two hands.

"Uh, yeah. I'm here to buy some flowers as an apology gift," Zuko said in an uncertain tone of voice as he looked around at the flowers. Then without warning, a loud sound interrupted his visual tour with a _CRASH_!!

He quickly looked back at the shop keeper with a surprised look. The shop keeper was also looking at Zuko but with a shock expression. Finding the shop keeper's expression uncomfortable, Zuko decided to break their period of silence.

"Um…you dropped your pot. Is there something wrong? Or you mean this?" Zuko hesitantly placed a hand over his scar.

"You….," was the first word that the shop keeper was able to mutter from his mouth.

"Pardon?"

"I…..I can't believe it! It's you!!" the shop keeper started to shout with excitement.

"Could you please say that in a quieter voice? I don't want any drawn attention to this place."

"I know I know! You don't want to be caught but this is amazing! You even know where to find me!"

"What? Look, I don't even know you. I have no idea what you're talking about. Now, can you please cut the charade and give me advice as to which flower to choose?" Zuko felt his temper was beginning to rise. Either this commoner has lost his mind or maybe, this is still one giant dream.

"Don't know me? Of course you know me! And I know you! And…and….I just want to say, what you did in the inner city was spectacular!" there were stars now shooting of the shop keeper's eyes. Zuko sighed and began to rub his forehead in exasperation. The shop keeper smiled seeing how Zuko didn't seem to believe him still so he instantly grabbed a hold of Zuko's wrist. "Come with me! It's a good thing my parents aren't here at this moment."

"Huh!? Hey!!" Zuko was staring wide eyed as he was being lead away by the other boy. "Let go! I don't have time for this!" He found himself going through the inside part of the store passing by flower stand after flower stand. They ended up in a small back room that had a skinny desk, and was filled with different kinds of flower pots and bowls.

"You told me to save these, so I did!" the shop keeper pulled out a small closed-lid container that was sitting underneath the desk. Upon opening the lid, he took out a black cloak with a hood and a copper colored mask. The mask had the face of an angry dragon complete with a lashing tongue carved to its side. Zuko began to have a sinking feeling in his stomach when staring at the mask. "So, does any of this stuff ring a bell?"

Zuko was speechless at first before glaring at the shop keeper, "you're crazy!! Crazier than my uncle! I'm out of here and I'm not coming back!" He turned to leave.

"Wait a moment! I still got something else," the shop keeper set aside the cloak and the mask. He then lifted the small container out of the way and took out a bigger container that was sitting underneath the small container. After opening that one, he took out the container's contents and quickly ran to catch up with Zuko. "So these aren't yours either?" he waved the two objects in front of Zuko's face.

The prince's face paled as he snatched the two broad swords out of the shop keeper's hands. "Where did you get these!?"

"You gave them to me. Your scabbard is in the box too," the shop keeper said as he cupped his hands together. "You can have it all back if you want."

Zuko stared at the shop keeper with suspicion. He was fully convinced that the boy wasn't at all crazy as he appeared to be.

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Azula burned a piece of grass before lying down. She was getting tired of her search and was frustrated to see that there was nothing she could find. Ty Lee was bending over backwards balancing her body with her hands and legs. The two of them were now in another palace courtyard brainstorming away.

"Why don't you use the Dai Li to help you out?" Ty Lee suggested looking at the defeated princess.

"No…," she said wearily staring up at the sky. "I want to save them for a better occasion than this."

"Are you sure that the Blue Spirit is your brother?"

"Of course. Why? Are you doubting me?" Azula moved her head but didn't lift it while looking at Ty Lee.

"No! I'm not! Well, it's just…. The Blue Spirit existed a long time ago, right? And that guard guy said that the mask wasn't blue this time. Plus, was the Blue Spirit even wearing a cloak? I don't think I can recall any on his wanted posters."

Azula closed her eyes with a small feeling of exhaustion before sitting up from her lying position. "That's because none of the wanted posters showed the rest of his body. He carried two swords as far as I could remember of all the rumors that spread back to the palace. I know Zuzu can't resist swords. That's why, we're not looking for evidence for the petty peasant wannabe. I have no interest in him. I'm looking for the one who actually caused a real interference." She soon had a confident smile crawling up her face as she said under her breath, "I will surely unmask you when I get the chance."

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"….He was about to return the fruit but the seller frightened him so he forgot all about giving it back. Then, you came in at the nick of time. After fighting off the guards, everyone thought you were gone, and so, the crowd left. The family's son, that you saved, wanted to thank you but of course, you weren't there so they left too. I decided to move the flower cart to another area of the city to see if I can get more business. But you know how mornings go. Not too many people so…yeah. Right as I was passing a side street, you grabbed me by the arm and pulled me in. You took off the stuff that you were wearing and gave them to me. Also, the swords! You told me to keep them safe and in secret. That, I should wait until you come and find me. I couldn't speak when you were talking to me!

Then, you walked away and out of sight. It was great!" the shop keeper, known as Bo, explained to Zuko everything without even stopping. The thrill was quite clear on Bo's face. Zuko felt his good eye twitching before being able to find words to what he wanted to say.

"Hold on! How do you know that that was me? It could've been someone who looked like me!"

"Are you kidding? You're the only guy with a scar like that on his face."

"It could be someone else with a scar like this."

"Nope. Yours is the most unique scar that I've ever seen so far."

"Argh! Ok, look. I can't stay any longer. Let me just pay for the flowers. You can also keep all this stuff with you!"

"Really? Even the swords?"

Zuko hesitated for a brief moment at that question. Those one-of-a-kind swords were his most prized possession. The only other form of defense that he had ever since he realized he needed to be stronger through another way. If he were to take them with him though, it'll just prove to Bo that he really is the guy who stood up to the guards. "Yes, even the swords because….they can't be mine!"

"But they are yours! You just asked me how----"

"Forget, I-ever-said-that!! They just look like mine. That's all!"

"Sorry! Geeze. You don't have to get angry at me like that. I was just saying….," Bo sighed before rising his head again with that good-nature smile of his. "Alright! Well, here's what I can tell you. Panda lilies and roses seem to be popular with the girls. Petunias and maises for friendship. Um, let's see---"

"Look. Anything! I'll take anything!" Zuko threw down his fists to his sides. His patience was beginning to ware thin with the boy.

Fifteen minutes later.

"Come again!!" waved Bo. A wide smile was plastered on his face this time.

Zuko stared back at him with an annoyed expression. It took him a ridiculous amount of time to get a bouquet of scarlet bells. He started to increase the speed in his pace, but at the same time, was careful not to clutch too hard on the seven white and red bell-shaped bouquet. He made his way through several streets; always remembering to look up to make sure he was going in the right direction. Since the inner part of the capital was situated on a higher elevation, it wasn't hard to miss it at all.

--------------------

"Catch him!" screamed a voice into the night. The hooded figure wearing the black cloak flapped casually through the air. His body was flying from roof top to roof top. Fire was being flung from all different directions. The figure eventually reached a dead end in his roof top hopping. There were no other buildings to jump to. He swiveled around to face the masked guards who were chasing him.

"So, not only do you help thieves but you are one as well!" one of the guards said in a mocking voice. He shot a fist towards the man in black who simply bended back his body so the flame could shoot past him. The same guard then pumped two fists straight at the so-called "thief".

The cloaked man easily dodged both flames by bowing forward feeling the flames' heat fly over him. He then stood straight again and tipped a bit of his mask towards the guards. "I'm sorry, but I can't keep someone waiting. Another time!" he spoke with his voice sounding very unclear through the dragon mask. He swiftly made a salute before back-flipping into the street below.

"No!!" bellowed the guard and he rushed forward to see where the cloaked man went. The rest of the guards followed him. Upon peering down, they all saw nothing. They were so pre-occupied with the street below them that they never saw their mysterious target sneaking off in a side street to the right of them.

A few streets later, the cloaked man came across a bleak looking side street. He stepped carefully into it and touched the left wall in order to make his way through the long dark passageway. Eventually, he came across a door on the right side wall. After giving it a few knocks, the door cautiously opened letting a skinny beam of light come pouring through its gap.

"Y-Yes?" asked an elderly bald man who was dressed in a raggedy nightgown. "Can I help you?"

"No need," the muffled sounding voice behind the mask said as the man in black began to reach for something inside his cloak. "I believe this was taken from you," he revealed a small blue bottle. The elderly man's eyes were wide-open in surprise upon seeing it and shakily took it from the stranger.

"My medicine!" the elderly man almost shouted before turning to ask the man how he knew. Only, he was too late. The man in black was gone.

.oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

**To Be Continued….**

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**A.N.: **Originally, this chapter was going to end with Zuko leaving the shop but I couldn't help to add that second important part in. Then, I actually gave the old man a grand-daughter, but then, I thought that was too much so sadly, I had to get rid of her (cries cries)! Also, If you are curious as to why I picked "Coriander Coltsfoot", you can find their meanings on earthly pursuits dot com. It sounds like something from Harry Potter's Diagon Alley! Ahhh! (Yes, I specifically picked "Bo" and "Xuan Meng" on purpose too.)

12/6/07 edit: Had to fix the ending part a bit. It wasn't grammatically correct repeating beginning words like that. Also, corrected another part of the chapter. I do back-track editing sometimes with my stories.


	5. Episode 5: A Renewed North

**Avatar 03**

**Author Notes: **There will be a small break after this. Have to focus more on my finals so I won't be updating until later this month.

(Funny how this is my least reviewed fanfic, but I like it the most out of all of them. I get to put Robin Hood/Batman/Priory fusion in here for crying out loud. Yar for the insanity!!)

**Disclaimer:** All _Avatar: The Last Airbender _characters belong to Bryan and Mike, Nickelodeon, and (sighs) Viacom. All Rights Are Reserved.

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**Episode 5 - A Renewed North **

"Did you do what I asked you to do?" the voice's owner had one hand holding tightly on the shoulder of a particular Fire Nation palace guard who was pinned against a wall in an unknown hallway.

"Y-yes! As you instructed, I waited until the sun reached its peak before I went looking for the Princess. She swallowed everything in!" the guard answered in a rapid tone.

"I hope she did. Now, remember that you didn't hear any of this from me," the person's voice went almost into a whisper. The guard repeatedly nodded his head. He felt the hand loosening its tight hold on his shoulder. "I'm sorry for scaring you like that. I'm limited in time at this moment. Just wanted to say thank you for your help," the person said as he displayed a kind smile which left the guard in shock.

--------------------

The clouds were beginning to clutter together, which was a sure sign that the Aang gang were getting closer to their destination. Katara and Sokka were able to change into warmer clothing in preparation for their arrival at the Northern Air Temple. As soon as Sokka was done putting on his old blue coat with a hood, he patted it down happily.

"No more icky Fire Nation soldier stuff! Hellooo good ol' Water Tribe stuff!"

Aang and Toph didn't have any winter clothing on them so there was very little they could do. Toph felt the air's temperature change and began to hug the red tapestry cloak closer to her body to keep herself warm. Aang still had no shirt on and his ripped yellow pants had holes in them. He was fortunate that Katara was able to sew him a new shoe, back in Chameleon Bay, to compliment the one that he lost back in the catacombs under Ba Sing Se.

When the Aang gang approached the Northern Air Temple, their faces, with the exception of Toph, were completely blank at what they saw. There were no one flying around in their gliders today. Instead, there were a lot of new unusual contraptions that were attached to the temple walls by thick pieces of rope. They had small mechanical bodies but two arms that seemed to be used to haul stuff up and down.

As for the Earth Kingdom settlers, they were scattered running around the snow covered temple grounds hauling stones and other materials. Both young and old seem to be helping out with the work. No one seemed to pay attention to the incoming sky bison that was winding down pretty close to them.

"It looks like they've been busy since we've been away," Katara slowly commented as she watched in awe.

"I hear lots of hammering like they're building something?" Toph tried her best to figure out the situation. It was her first time visit to an air nomad temple but she was able to hear some interesting facts about them from Aang.

"I think they're restoring the temple," Aang said wide-eyed as he looked right and left. Something inside of him was stirring. "I'm going to check this out. See you guys down there!" the airbender stood up and grabbed his glider that was sitting safely inside another bag on Appa's saddle. He opened it up and propelled his body off of the saddle.

"Hey wait! Aang!" Sokka shouted but his voice was to no avail. The young airbender was soon gliding around one of the temple's towers. Some of the machines that were attached to the temple walls paused in their movements once their operators noticed Aang. The rest of the Aang gang soon made it to the temple grounds making sure no one was in their way.

Then, all at once, everything seemed like slow motion. As soon as each member of the Aang gang left Appa, a chorus of voices rose from the settlers.

"Someone get the Mechanist! Quick!!"

"Was this part of the ---!?"

"Of course not!"

"Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!?"

Katara and Sokka exchanged glances with each other.

"Did we miss something? Are we not suppose to be here?" Sokka asked looking at all the settlers going crazy because of their arrival. Toph shrugged.

"I guess. Their pulses are going funky under my feet so I think it's funny."

"Oh, you think it's funny, huh?" Katara gave Toph a quick glance. Without wasting any more time, she walked towards a tall man who seemed to be supervising a particular work being done on a ladder that was supporting two people on it. They were patching up a hole in the temple's exterior. Since there was a lot of noises going around them, Katara had to practically shout to get the tall man's attention. "Excuse me!?"

No answer.

Katara tried again, "EXCUSE MEE!!"

"Ah!?" the tall man swiveled around quickly only to see the waterbender smiling politely at him. His voice volume matched that of Katara's as he too had to shout. "OH, YOU'RE THAT YOUNG LADY WITH THE AVATAR!! PARDON ME!!" He turned his attention back towards the two people on the ladder, "IKKUN!! PON!! WE'RE MOVING!!" The two boys clinging to the ladder looked down to see what the fuss was about. Their eyes fell on Katara and immediately, they used the edges of their boots and hands to slide down the ladder. Without turning to give Katara another glance; the tall man, Ikkun, and Pon carefully brought the ladder down and carried it to another area of the temple.

Katara was both stunned and disappointed. If no one was going to greet them in a welcoming manner, they could've at least offered an explanation. She returned to where Sokka and Toph were standing. "They're ignoring us."

"Sugar queen, of course they are. If this is all a big surprise for Aang, you'll see that they want us to 'not know' what they're up to. I don't have to see how this is all plain and simple to me," Toph bluntly said. Katara felt stunned again as she realized Toph was correct. She hastily placed a hand to her mouth.  
"Oops."

"Oh, I knew that! Of course. It's so obvious! I can't believe Katara didn't get that!" Sokka exclaimed while flinging his right arm towards the ground. Katara sent Sokka a small glare.

"Weren't you the first person to wonder what was going on here?" This made Sokka's prideful smile change quickly into a bashful expression.

"…Er…..Well, you got a point…," the older brother began to guiltily bounce his two pointer fingers together.

"Forgive me, children! I've been so busy that I didn't expect to see you guys so soon!" a new voice called out to the three of them. They all looked up to see the Mechanist heading their way. He didn't seem to look any different from when they last saw him. Even his burnt cut up eyebrow showed no sign of growth. Once he was standing in front them, he held up an arm aiming it back at the main temple building. "Let's go inside where I can explain everything to you better without all this construction madness!"

Katara and Sokka were only able to take a few steps forward to start following the Mechanist before Katara realized something was wrong. She instantly looked behind her to see that Toph was still standing by Appa looking at the ground. Katara sprinted back to Toph.

"What's wrong!?"

"Although I can sense you guys leaving, all these construction noises are hampering with my bending. I can feel their vibrations mixing in with your footsteps, but I guess, it's this strange cold substance underneath my feet that's confusing me the most."

"Oh, you mean snow?"

"Snow? This is snow!?" Toph's diluted colored eyes expanded as she wiggled her toes deeper into the slushy ice. She has never felt snow before, and for the first time, is wondering whether to like it or fear it. Unlike Appa's fur, that gave her a nice soft feeling based on first impressions, snow was on a whole new level for her. Chilly and mushy. It also adds a level from the ground so she feels vibrations on a fainter scale.

"Come on. I'll hold your hand," Katara offered her hand up to Toph's shoulder. The young earthbender felt the hand but with a reluctant feeling. She wasn't sure about having to rely on a friend for help. "Toph, we don't have the entire day to stand here! Do you want to be left here in the cold!?" The two of them stood there for what felt like forever. Soon, Toph couldn't stand it anymore.

"Alright already! Fine!" Toph grumbled out loud as she hated to agree that the waterbender was right about their situation. She took Katara's hand rather harshly and let herself be led towards where the Mechanist and Sokka were waiting.

Once everyone made it inside the main temple building with the door closed, Katara loosened her grip so she and Toph can let go. Yet, Toph didn't let go of Katara's hand which made her have to look down to see what the younger girl was up to. Toph stared in silence for a moment before cracking a smile as she looked up at Katara's surprised expression.

"I guess that makes us even, huh?"

--------------------

Aang glided several rounds around every tower that he could find. He recalled the place to not be heavily damaged after the Fire Nation attacked it so why did the whole place need a new make-over? Soon, his eyes spotted a huge hole that stuck out like a sore thumb on one side of the temple. He bended his glider towards and through the hole landing gracefully on the floor. Momo hopped off of Aang's back and began to scamper around the vast room. It was awfully dark even though, the hole did help to shed some light into the room.

The airbender's vision soon adjusted itself to the dark room and he dropped his folded up glider in reaction to what he was seeing. It dawned on him that this was the very room that held all the Fire Nation weaponry that the Mechanist was forced to build. The light source for the room was apparently covered by something.

"Everything's gone?" Aang asked to himself. He proceeded forward to find the room's exit. With a blind guess, Aang thrust a tunnel of air towards where he believed the doors were. He guessed right as two huge double doors opened slowly with a now visible circular seal being split down its middle. Aang heaved a sigh as he headed towards the door with Momo scampering behind him.

xxxxx

He was now walking through the hallway that bear the swirled pattern designs painted on its floor. So far, everything looked the same here. Light was pouring from each small window and Aang couldn't help but to smile at the sight. Going further up, he ended up going through the windowless hallway before entering into the open air rotunda part of the temple. This place was also different from what he last remembered which was planned for a bathhouse. The hole that was created by the Mechanist's own special wrecking ball was no longer there. In its place was an exact replica of the rest of the rotunda.

Aang marveled at that spot particularly. He did not expect it to look so precise right down to the diagonal banners. Momo quickly ran up to Aang's shoulder to perch on it. It seemed, someone was coming their way.

"Aang!?" called out a familiar voice as a sound of a special wheelchair came creaking its way into the rotunda. The Mechanist's only son wheeled himself right until he was a foot away from Aang. He took off the goggles that was on his face before continuing. "Wow, it's been awhile. It's great to see you again. You too, Momo. I can't believe you now have hair? I almost didn't recognize you with it!"

"Teo!" Aang greeted back with a smile. "Uh, yeah. It happened while I was knocked out. At first, it felt weird but I'm use to it now."

"Hahahaha! Seriously though, we were all worried about you. We heard rumors that you were captured by the Fire Nation and that, you were dead!"

"But I'm not! I was only unconscious for a few weeks."

"Well, I can see that so I'm glad for that. Unfortunately still, the rest of the world thinks you're dead. Having you under the Fire Lord's watchful eye as a trophy was going to be the official proof."

"…….," Aang looked down to the floor as if he was thinking of something before rising his head, "He's probably found out by now. Maybe, he sent new people after me." He was trying hard not to remember. To think more about it would be the return of the emotional pain.

"Hey, you do know that everyone is waiting for you, right?" Teo asked as he noticed Aang's hardened expression. "We can explain everything to you when we meet up with them." Teo wheeled his chair a full 180 degrees to face the direction of where he came from. When he felt that Aang wasn't following him, he stopped wheeling and looked back. Aang was rooted to his spot staring into space.

"I know you guys are restoring this temple instead of changing it this time. I didn't expect you guys to do it but…." Aang looked right at Teo with slight earnest, "thank you." Teo smiled lightly and bowed his head at the younger boy.

"My father felt that he owe you and your friends everything in respect to helping us break our relationship with the Fire Nation. So, he dismantled many of the things he was building for them and re-built them into machines that can help restore and preserve this place. This was all meant to be made in honor of you, but when we heard of the rumors, my father didn't falter one bit on declaring that the project continues on whether you were alive or not. Besides, we don't need any luxuries to have a good life here."

"Then, by now, you must know why we're here."

Teo's expression turned serious with a nod, "follow me."

--------------------

It was another bright sunny day at the Fire Nation capital. People went about their business as usual. Still, the rumors of the masked man was beginning to swell. While the higher class found him as a threat, the lower class were beginning to regard him as a hero.

The nation's princess and her friends were hanging out in a random palace room that had a few lavish looking sofas. Azula had her legs stretched out and her head was resting on her folded arms that were on a sofa's arm. She was looking at the floor with a mindless face. Mai was sitting in the sofa across from her but was in a sitting up position with one hand supporting her chin. Ty Lee had her legs sprawled over the back of Mai's sofa. She was sitting upside down with her braid almost touching the floor.

"Mai, where's Zuko?" Azula asked without moving her head. She barely saw her brother, strangely ever since he returned from his visit to Mai's.

"I don't know. He told me that he was busy with something and we plan to meet some other day," Mai answered without moving her head too. Azula's eyes flinched a little upon hearing the news.

"Busy? Since when was he ever busy with anything? Most of the time, he's usually with you."

"Well, he did get me flowers. I didn't really have a use for them though."

"Flowers? From where? We don't have any flower shops here in the inner city."

"He told me that they were from a flower stand that sometimes visit the inner city."

"…………And what did you guys do?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Yes. He left as soon as he gave me the flowers and apologized. Now, can we go do something? I'm about to explode here."

"Not yet. I'm still thinking on an alternative to our little dilemma," Azula began to back-track in her mind. Every event has so far been perfect. That was, until Zuko fell onto the floor. She narrowed her eyes as the only solution came to her mind. "…Uncle."

--------------------

Zuko was once again in the prison tower. This time, his access seemed more lenient from the watch guard but he had to add on a warning about his uncle's strength. He shook off the warning instantly. Once inside, he slowly made his way towards the prison hallway door ignoring the gawking glances of the other guards. Upon closing it, Zuko silently ambled towards Iroh's cell.

Iroh was sitting cross legged with his back facing the bars again. Zuko sat himself in front of Iroh's cell and stared right at the back of Iroh's head. "Uncle. Something weird has been going on. Yesterday, in the outer city, this guy showed me some strange things and I believe, he is a thief! He somehow snuck into the palace and stole my swords! He kept saying it was me who marauded as some hooligan running into the affairs of the guards. That is impossible since I've been in the palace for the entire time!" he exhaled a huge amount of air after saying what he needed to say. He tilted his head downward in exasperation. Nothing was making any sense to him anymore.

Then, like magic, his uncle spoke. "Why are you here?"

Zuko stared at his uncle with disbelief. Suddenly, he found himself not even being able to speak one syllable. His uncle began to talk more once he noticed that his nephew did not have an answer.

"I thought you called me a 'crazy old man'. Now, what am I?"

"I…." Zuko replied once he found his voice, "was hoping you could tell me! You are the only person in the entire palace who I feel comfortable talking to. I can't even explain what I'm feeling to Mai!"

"And what are you feeling exactly?"

"I told you already! I'm confused!!"

"Do you know why?"

"I don't!"

"Could you be a little more descriptive?"

"I just told you! I can't!"

"Then, I can't help you."

Zuko roared again before standing up and giving one of the cell bars a whack emitting some fire onto it. "Forget it! What's the use of coming back here when you refuse to answer any of my questions!!" He would've stormed out of the hallway if it wasn't for what Iroh had to say next that caught him off guard.

"Although, I can't explain to you now, I believe 'he' can help you into what you're looking for."

"He? Whom are you referring to, Uncle?"

Iroh finally turned his body so his eyes were peering right into Zuko's. "Someone very close. Your heart is afraid to face 'him' though."

"What?" Zuko looked at his uncle strangely as if he's gone insane. The two of them began to have a brief staring contest when all of a sudden, the hallway door banged open.

"Uncle! Zuzu! What a surprise. I'm sorry that we have to crash your little party," Azula sneered as she stepped into the hallway. "Guards, take him," as soon as she gave the order, three guards came rushing in past her and towards Iroh's cell.

"Azula, what's going on?" Zuko glanced at his sister with suspicion. He didn't like the way things were appearing at this moment. The guards opened Iroh's cell door and began to drag the prisoner out of there. Zuko had to resist himself from doing anything so he had no choice but to watch in repulsion at the way that they were treating him. Iroh's two arms were held tightly as his bare feet were dragging against the floor. He was facing backwards so Zuko was able to get a better look at his face.

Strangely though, when Iroh was passing by his nephew, his hand quickly lifted itself and dropped as soon as it came up. A small clatter sound could be heard around Zuko's area, but the shuffling of everyone's feet and Azula's talking made the sound impossible for everyone else to hear it.

"Don't worry, Zuko. They're just taking Uncle to another prison. A more secured place which you won't even know where it is exactly."

"For what reason?" Zuko glared at his sister.

"For your protection, silly! Wouldn't want good ol' Uncle to harm you any further."

"Stop it, Azula! He hasn't done anything to me!"

"Oh yeah? Then how come you and Mai aren't talking much to each other recently?"

"Uh, well…. I was busy with something so…our relationship has nothing to do with Uncle!"

"That's definitely not new to me. Enough with the excuses!" Azula grinned. "I know you're up to something. I also suspect you have something to do with a peculiar Blue Spirit?" Zuko's whole body stiffened. Why would she bring up his Blue Spirit guise now?

"Blue Spirit? You mean that guy on the wanted posters back in the Earth Kingdom?"

"Of course, Zuzu. Who else am I talking about? A stone wall? The Avatar? ……Look, I'm cutting you a deal here. As long as you don't seek Uncle again, I'll make sure your little secret will be safe with me. Don't even try to argue your way out of this one," giving one last side sneer at her brother, she turned to go out through the hallway doorway. Zuko was left to ponder angrily alone as he stared at Iroh's empty prison cell. Then all of a sudden, he remembered the object that Iroh dropped.

He bent himself down on his knees while creating a small ball of flame to give him light. The hallway never felt so dark before. Letting the small flame of light guide his search, his eyes were able to locate the object that Iroh intentionally dropped. He picked the object up to his eyes to get a better look at it. It was, to his surprise, a red and dark yellow crown with a long red pin running through it.

"Why did he have this? Why is he giving it to me?"

--------------------

Aang and Teo were traveling out of a long dim hallway and into a wide room filled with lots of light. Air symbols were a continuous pattern throughout parts of the room.

"Aang!" Katara yelled out in relief and ran to give him a hug. Momo had to jump quickly out of the way before Katara's arms came flying right onto Aang's shoulders. The monk stared in stupor at everyone who were gathered in the main part of the temple. His expression did not really change even after Katara hugged him. Teo chuckled at the sight as he wheeled himself past Katara and Aang.

"Dad, I found him."

"Good. Did you explain to him what we're up to?" the Mechanist looked at his son with a hopeful expression.

"Yep. Everything."

"Is that so? Well, guess there isn't much left to say then."

"Wait!" Aang cried out as he made his way towards the Mechanist. "What about the new invasion plan?"

"Relax, Aang. We straightened it all out while you were not here. We'll explain it later to you when we're back on Appa," Sokka gave the younger boy a full hearty grin. Aang didn't buy the grin though.

"I missed it!?"

"Easy there, twinkletoes. It's not as exciting as you think it is," Toph said in a dull reassuring manner.

"But… but I'm the Avatar!" Aang cynically said as he looked to the floor.

"And you're still a kid so relax. Missing this semi-important meeting isn't going affect anything," Sokka placed a hand onto Aang's shoulder. "It's a good thing you didn't miss this next part."

"Huh?" Aang looked up at Sokka with huge eyes.

"The Mechanist asked if we could help him on the restoration project of the temple in exchange for clothing and food." Aang's surprised expression immediately changed into a placid smile. He turned his attention towards the Mechanist.

"You got yourself a deal."

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**To Be Continued….**

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**A.N: **See you in a few weeks!

(:D) I am a gummy bear! I am a gummy bear! I am a yummy tummy funny lucky gummy bear! The darn song's stuck in my head! Nooooooo… It was probably worse when I couldn't stop listening to "That's How You Know" from _Enchanted_! Although, I like _August Rush _a bit more, both movies were good.


	6. Episode 6: Sky and Land

**Avatar 03**

**Author Notes:** I dont know why I decided to continue this out of all my other dead fics. I think after reading through so many fan fiction whether theyre related to Avatar or not, it just drove me to this. Not to mention, I have a lot of things going on school-wise thats keeping me busy. I started typing this chapter up as soon as I was done with Episode 5, two years ago, but never finished. Now, itll be sent through and be done with on the net! (My writing style mightve changed again after all these years. Ack.) Oh yeah, since Avatar has been over with for awhile, Im also one of those who wish there was a Book 4. It just annoys me that we got worked up over Ursa for nothing!! =_=

**Disclaimer:** All _Avatar: The Last Airbender _characters belong to Bryan and Mike, Nickelodeon, and (sighs) Viacom. All Rights Are Reserved.

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****

Episode 6 - Sky and Land

The Aang gang spent nearly the entire day at the Northern Air Temple. They helped out with certain activities such as lifting up heavy stones all the way to simple chores like cleaning up some dust that was covering parts of the temple's basement.

Aang is feeling pretty happy as he is now dressed in a new long sleeve yellow shirt and dark red pants. The Mechanist and his people were able to find some well preserved air nomad clothing among some of the abandoned rooms of the temple. Meanwhile, Toph refused any clothing from the women settlers no matter how many times they pleaded. They eventually left her alone, to her relief, but that made her stand more on her toes in worry that they were going to plan a sneak dress up attack on her.

Soon, the cloudy daylight was fading. Everyone felt tired and exhausted. Sokka, Aang, and Katara all agreed to call it quits and went to find to find Toph. By the time they did find her, she was in one of the tower rooms thrusting chipped stones into holes. A semi-scrawny looking boy was standing on the side of the room watching silently. Apparently, he was there to supervise Toph. Katara instantly recognized him as one of the two boys who were on the ladder earlier that day.

"Why do I feel like I'm being used a lot more than you guys!?" Toph annoyingly asked more to herself as she felt her friends coming close. Aang raised an eyebrow at the blind girl.

"Uh, Toph? You can stop now. We're leaving."

"Wait, not yet!" Toph exclaimed as she stepped forward again to make sure the stone was fitted in right.

"Toph, let them take care of it. It's almost dark outside and we need to go now," Katara explained with a brief hand motion. She could clearly see that the younger girl was ignoring her. After a few more stone shifting attempts, Toph finally let her shoulders relax and arms drop to her sides.

"Alright! I'm done," Toph calmly ended her sentence as she turned to face the boy supervisor. "Thanks for helping me out."

"No problem," the boy said without much expression. He turned to face where the rest of the Aang gang were standing and quietly passed them in order to exit the room. Sokka watched the boy disappear around the door's corner with a pensive look before eyeing Toph with a grin.

"I think he has a crush on you."

"What!?" Toph glared looking straight at where Sokka is standing. "What gave you that kind of idea?"

"Ohhh, just wondering. I mean, if only you could see his face when he was watching you when you were---" _CLUNK_!! Sokka felt something hit his head so hard, he nearly fell down. Aang watched with surprise while Katara simply shook her head at the scene.

"Let's go. This place is giving me a nightmare," Toph stated as she stomped past her friends. Katara and Aang exchanged looks before slowly gazing their eyes onto Sokka. The Water Tribe boy was simply standing root at his spot with his palms raised up towards his chest.

"I was only kidding!!!!!"

xxxxx

Once the Aang gang had all of their supplies and personal items in check, it was officially time to go. They had a small farewell gathering outside the temple.

"Are you sure you guys can't stay for the night? We have plenty of empty rooms here," the Mechanist asked with anxiety as he watched the Aang gang board Appa. Teo was by his side with a sad expression. Several of their people were also behind them; waiting with similar concerns.

"I'm sorry, but we need to make time if we want to go according to plan," Sokka sternly said as he leaned over Appa's saddle. Suddenly, Aang's eyes lit up from his position at the front side of Appa's back.

"That's right! I completely forgot about it! Sokka, what's the plan?"

"Told you already. Later!"

"Yeah, but….nevermind," Aang grumbled with a dejected look. He already tried to pry some info from everyone earlier, but to no avail, they all refused to tell him the plan. He couldn't understand why it was so secretive.

"Thank you for the food provisions! It was more than we asked but we greatly appreciate it!" Katara beamed as she held up a small leather bag. The Mechanist tried to make a small movement with his mouth but couldn't make it into a smile. He wished to do something more. Something that could benefit the group of youngsters. He began to brainstorm for what he felt was a long time before it suddenly hit him.

"Of course! Hold on a second! I'll be right back!"

"Huh?" Everyone watched the Mechanist dash off towards the temple's entrance. Katara and Sokka exchanged glances with each other. Aang, still with his dejected look, let himself fall back onto Appa so he can comfortably stare up at the sky. Toph had her arms crossed while wiggling her toes into the snow. Teo, feeling a bit nervous with the sudden silence, was about to strike up a conversation when his father came running back enthusiastically. He was holding onto an oddly shaped medium size brown parcel.

"This is something that I've been dying to test out for awhile now. I was inspired by the power of air, and so, I worked on this day and night."

"Oh, THAT thing. Dad, are you sure? I thought it wasn't working properly a few days ago?" Teo piped up with concern.

"Oh hush now! I managed to work out the bugs after you left," the Mechanist said in a matter-of-fact tone of voice. His son could only sigh with growing worry. The Mechanist handed the parcel to Sokka but didn't let go until he said his final advice, "A non-airbender should use this device well."

"So, you mean me?" Sokka grinned in thought as he hugged the parcel to his chest. He then felt a jab in his shoulder so he looked down to see…

"Nah, he meant me!" Toph jabbed her left thumb at herself.

"Argh!! Just share!! Please! Both of you!" Katara angrily grabbed Sokka and Toph's shirt collars and dragged them towards Appa.

Once the entire Aang gang is seated on Appa, the flying bison lifted off from the temple. They mustered a wave back at the area where they once were with deep gratitude.

"I wish you, children, the best of luck! We appreciate the support that you've given us and we'll hopefully repay the favor when that day comes! See you later!!" the Mechanist shouted back waving vigorously. Teo and the onlookers followed suit in waving good-bye to their guests.

--------------------

__

Everything around him was different this time, but it was getting worse. All he could see was red leaking from a dead body on the floor. There were people all around him. Who were they? Who is this? And then, he turned to stare at someone who was laughing at the body. Until he, himself, couldn't take it anymore and then…

"Doesn't this scene look despicable to you?" asked his playful counterpart who quickly replaced the person he was staring at. The counterpart's disembodied voice echoed into his ears. Zuko had to jump a foot away in surprise. The setting around them began to change in an instant to pure white. The body was no longer there.

"What is this!?" Zuko had to cover a portion of his mouth since he was starting to feel nauseous.

"It's the other part of your mind."

"Wha…? My mind doesn't think of sick stuff like this!"

"I don't mean fantasy, silly. I mean, what you locked up in there," the counterpart pointed to his forehead.

"What I locked up?"

"Oh, poor Zuko… You'll never be free if you can't…," his counterpart's voice faded just like his body, which was beginning to vanish into the whiteness of wherever they are.

"Wait!!" Zuko shouted as he shot up from his bed with one hand reaching for empty air. Was it all a dream? A nightmare? That doppelganger of his appeared again. Zuko gripped his out-stretched hand tightly into a fist. Things haven't been going smoothly for him as of late. He slowly brought his out-stretched arm and hand down until they were resting against his right side of his body. Sighing, he got out of bed and headed towards a desk tucked away at one corner of his room.

Upon reaching the desk, he pulled out a side drawer and carefully took out the crown that his uncle gave him. He held it close to the front of his face. Then, began to examine it at different angles. There wasn't anything extraordinary about it as far as he could see. After giving the crown one last good stare, he placed it back into the drawer. He felt very uneasy about going back to sleep so he tried to stay awake as much as possible.

In the end though, he found himself back on his bed exhausted. When he wakes up again, his night experience will be nothing more than a trickle of blurs.

--------------------

The sun has completely set as Appa floated gently through the sky. The passengers, on its back, are laying around in different areas. Aang is the only one who kept his distance from everyone else as he laid on one side on top of Appa's head. His back is facing his friends and appeared to be dead stiff.

"Aang?" Katara glanced at the monk furrowing her brows. "You haven't said a single word since we left the temple." There was nothing but silence in response as the air whipped all around them.

"Aw, leave him alone, Katara. He's upset over us not telling him anything about our plan which we're going to explain soon," Sokka said in a dreamy state as he watched the clouds pass over their heads. The brown parcel was used as his pillow. Toph glowered at the older boy trying to think of ways to obtain the parcel. It was a bit tricky though as she couldn't feel on Appa's body so she had to resort to using her hands as guides. "Hey.. HEY!!" Sokka exclaimed as he felt small hands trying to grab the parcel out from under his head.

"I wanna see what it is!" Toph anxiously said as she began to tug on the parcel with all her might.

"You're kidding me, right? How can you see what it is!?" Sokka lifted the parcel up into the air and shook it trying to get the girl's hands off of it.

"Because, I know I can. Somehow!" Toph insisted as she refuse to let go.

"You two….," Katara held one hand on her head letting a deep sigh go and turned her attention back to Aang. She understood his frustration but he didn't have to hold it all in. After another minute of staring at the airbender, Katara had enough and crawled her way to Aang's limp form. "Ok! This has to stop now. Aang, you're 112 years old! Act more responsible!"

"I'm still 12 inside!" Aang finally spoke as he rolled over to face Katara, who was only two inches away from him. Anger can be seen seeping in through his eyes. The waterbender froze as she realized that her words could mean major consequences towards their trip. She was only trying to lighten up the mood with the age joke. Biting back her lip, Katara sat back to give some more space between her and Aang. Aang rolled himself over to face the other way again with his back facing Katara.

"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you in any way. I'm just trying to cheer you up."

"Cheer me up? Just tell me what you guys planned up so I'll be my normal hyper self again! Is it that bad? Sokka said that as soon as we're on Appa, you guys will spill everything! But nooooo… It's been hours now!!"

"Actually, just one hour."

"Same thing!!"

"Well, it has something to do with our next stop. We'll be using that place as a base for our plan."

"…….…"

"Just be patient a little more. Everything will make sense when we get there."

"………."

"Fine, stay quiet. I'll stop bothering you." Katara crawled away back to where everyone else is. As soon as she was sitting next to Sokka, she grabbed his shirt collar with both of her hands and immediately shook him like crazy. "Why did you tell him we'll explain the plan here!? You could've at least hinted the island!!"

"K-Ka-Katara!!" Sokka barely got his voice out through the shaking.

"Instead, you teased him into thinking it was a big mystery! Now, look at what you've done!!" Katara tilted her head towards Aang's depressed form.

"So?" Sokka eyed Aang with wide eyes.

"So, I think you should apologize! This is getting ridiculous if this keeps up."

"What? Why? You didn't tell him the plan either, did you?" Sokka kept his big eyes as his attention went back to Katara's angry face. Katara didn't say anything for a couple of seconds, but loosened her grip on his collar. She lowered her head until her eyesight was at Sokka's chest.

"……..You're right. I couldn't bring up the plan."

"I don't believe it! Hah! I'm with a bunch of sissies!" Toph interrupted with a side puff of air. The Water Tribe siblings almost forgot she was there as they turned their heads to look at her. "Anyways, thank you for this. I'll treasure it forever." Toph grinned as she held up the brown parcel in a teasing manner. Sokka's eyes popped out of his skull.

"Wait! How did you---!?" Sokka couldn't believe Toph was able to grab the parcel from underneath his blue coat.

"As the Blind Bandit, I proudly announce my victory over boomerang guy! Mwahhahaha!!" Toph let out her evil fit of laughter. Katara and Sokka could only groan at Toph's exaggerated behavior. Aang made no motion to move or even look at the activity that was behind his back. He just didn't care…

--------------------

"Good morning, your Highness. How may we be of service?"

"May we wash your feet?"

"Need a fresh towel?"

A fully clothed Prince Zuko glanced at all the servants who were eagerly waiting on him. For some reason, he just didn't feel like being served. It was the same ritual every morning, yet, the whole process started to feel empty. But why?

The young prince politely waved all of his servants away and headed towards the main hallway. There was no one in sight which was a relief. He quietly took his time to go to the banquet hall so he can think as much as he can. _Where did they take Uncle? _

Five minutes passed before Zuko reached two huge double doors leading to the hall. The two guards at the door gave a curt bow before opening the doors. Zuko walked in like usual but stopped dead in his tracks once the doors closed behind him. Azula was seated on the left hand side of a long table smirking as usual at her older brother. The person to her left though, was of greater importance. A tall imposing man, with long dark hair that goes to his back and snake-like golden eyes. He was dressed in a velvet red robe from head to toe. Fire Lord Ozai was staring hard at his only son. These occasions are very rare. Normally, the Fire Lord would eat in his throne room.

"Prince Zuko, come. Have a seat." Ozai motioned with one hand towards the empty seat on his left hand side. Zuko complied without staring at his father. As soon as he took his seat, the servants came in full force to serve the royal family breakfast. The room was almost dead quiet though. If it wasn't for Ozai's presence, Zuko and Azula would usually squabble right away over what they were going to do later. Other squabbles would be over the servants and how they should be treated. Zuko was rather nervous about this, because there was one particular servant who wasn't too good in his job. There was no sign of this servant, yet, so this gave Zuko a sign of relief. _Wait. _Zuko paused in the midst of his thoughts staring at his quartered filled plate with big eyes. _Why am I worrying over a servant!?_

Then, as if on cue, it happened. The loud sounds of two plates crashing to the floor echoed throughout the room. Pieces of fruit were strewn all over the carpet staining it in an instant. Zuko's huge eyes didn't change at all as he looked up from his plate to stare at the source of the sound. The servant had both of his hands planted firmly on the floor with his head looking down in embarrassment. He didn't stay that way for long as he then tried to quickly clean up his mess with a thick cloth. Zuko then shifted his attention to his father and sister. His sister was giving off a menacing glare, while his father was staring calmly at the servant. The other servants in the room could only watch with fear. They were specifically ordered not to help others who made blunders in front of the royal family.

"Dad," said Azula, not taking her eyes off the servant, "that is the same servant who caused trouble two days in a row. He needs to be punished for being a disgrace in our presence!" She held up a fist which slowly got engulfed in her blue flame. Ozai didn't stand up or make any indication that he was going to move from his seat. He simply took his eyes off of the servant and proceeded to drink his morning tea as if nothing happened.

"Now now Azula… Let's not get carried away on a weakling. There are plenty of others who you should focus your attention on. Which reminds me, Zuko. I want to speak to you concerning the Ava----" Ozai stopped mid-sentence as he was turning to where his son is seated. Apparently, he was speaking to empty air. Zuko was no where to be found in his seat.

"That idiot Zuzu. What does he think he's doing?" Azula's voice floated into Ozai's ears. The Fire Lord swerved back to focus his attention on the servant, who was still cleaning up his mess. Zuko was walking towards the servant with calm even steps. The servant didn't notice the prince until the boy was kneeling right beside him, which gave him quite a surprise. He nearly jumped back a foot.

"You-your Highness?" the servant gave a confuse look at Zuko, who was looking down in silence picking up pieces of the spilled fruit. As soon as there were no other fruit pieces left on his side, Zuko deposited his collection into one of the plates that were intended to be served. The servant continued to watch in awe until the prince moved towards another area where there were other fruit pieces. A small smile crept onto the servant's face for a second before he shook his head to quickly bring him back to reality. He then went back to his own search for more fruit pieces. The servant was pleased by the boy's generosity to help him and wondered whether the past few days were a trigger to all of this.

Minutes passed until the all the fruit pieces were back on the two plates. The servant sighed in relief as he looked at Zuko. The prince was standing dead still across from him with very little expression. His hands were at his sides and his feet were semi-apart from each other. The servant quickly stood up and gave a bow towards the prince. "Thank you so much for your help, your Highness! I'm truly in your debt!" The servant beamed a smile at Zuko, but the boy still didn't give any response. He stayed that way for another minute before collapsing onto the floor. This led to the other servants come running to his aid.

"Take him back to his room," Ozai ordered staying put at his seat. Azula had ignored the entire scene altogether by eating her food. Both of them had varying thoughts running through their heads. Once Zuko was gone, Ozai motioned for the clumsy servant to come towards the breakfast table. The servant expressed great anxiety but tried to suppress that as he got closer to the Fire Lord. Upon reaching the table, the servant did another bow, but this time, it was the crouching type.

"I apologize for the incident earlier, my Lord! It was foolish of me to display such an inexcusable act," the servant kept his body bended over and his vision focused on the floor.

"You may stand," Ozai said in a tense tone of voice. His daughter had an amused expression on her face as if, she couldn't wait to see what would happen to the servant. The servant stood up upon hearing the order. "I heard that you caused quite a show in these past few days in the presence of my children. This must be why my son snapped. May this be the last time you have any of these so-called accidents? You will not have a second chance."

"Yes, my Lord!" the servant performed a quick bow. He almost felt a second wave of relief until Ozai motioned for the royal guards to come over to the table.

"Take this man to the tower and make sure that he never comes near me again." The servant's eyes widened in fear as he felt the strong arms of the guards take him away.

"No! Wait…!!" the servant's cry fell onto deaf ears as everyone in the room stopped paying attention to him. He was no longer part of any existence.

--------------------

"Here we are. Our new home!" Sokka cheerfully expressed from Appa's head as he guided the flying bison towards an island covered fifty percent with trees. The island wasn't very large but it wasn't small either. Sokka continued to grin at their future location before realizing that there were no one responding to his reaction. He looked back with a disappointed gaze as all the other party members were still sleeping. "Aw , c'mon! For once, I'm up early and I have no chance to lecture anyone for sleeping in!" Minutes passed before Appa could safely descend onto the island. After Appa landed safely, he immediately fell sleepily onto his side.

"AHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! Appa, what are you doing!?" Sokka yelled as he grabbed tightly onto the rein. Behind him, he could hear the thuds of the rest of the Aang gang falling onto the ground. Following the thuds were groans and yawns as everyone was waking up.

"That, was….really rough. Are we there…yet….?" Toph said in a drowsy tone of voice as she was the first one to try to stand up. Her toes started to wiggle trying to adjust to their new environment.

"I think so," Katara was wiping her eyes trying to make sense of their situation. She was sitting up but made no attempt to stand. Aang was sitting up as well but didn't say anything. He had on an expressionless face.

"Um," came Sokka's voice from somewhere above the Aang gang's heads, "could someone please give me a hand? I really REALLY don't want to be here the entire day." Katara looked up to see Sokka still holding onto Appa's rein with both of his hands. He was dangling over the huge animal's side but only one foot off the ground.

"Sokka, just let go. You're not going to die if you fall from that height." Katara chuckled a little. Her brother stared at her as if she was crazy before letting go of the rein. His eyes were closed the entire way down which was rather quick. He felt his feet touch the ground before he knew it.

"I'm alive!!" Sokka hastily got onto his knees and hugged the ground.

"You're stupid!!" Toph retorted as she walked pass Sokka on her way to where Aang is. Sokka glanced up to stick his tongue out at the younger girl before going back to hugging the ground.

xxxxx

"Hey twinkletoes!" Toph greeted the Avatar with a small punch to his arm as she sat down beside him. "You've been depressed since yesterday so I want to cheer you up." Aang was still sitting up right with his legs tucked under his arm.

"Thanks Toph, but all I want are some answers," Aang flatly stated. "I'm sure you're not allowed to tell me either."

"Well….," Toph was about to start but stopped short on her sentence. She made a promise to wait, and to break that promise now was going to delay their mission. As much as she wants to tell Aang, now wasn't the best time to spill everything. "You'll get your answer when the Day of Black Sun approaches."

"What!? That late!? Tell me that's the truth and not another lie!"

"That's the truth. Do you think I'm Sokka, who keeps joking around?"

"But what am I suppose to do now?"

"Train."

"Huh?"

"I said you have to continue training your bending! You can't be slacking off now. You'll be fighting the Fire Lord soon. Even your earthbending could use some work."

"………"

"Aang, everything's going to be alright. Don't worry about the plan. Worry about what you have to do on your part," Katara's voice was a new addition to the current discussion. The waterbender walked up to her younger peers and sat down between Aang and Toph. "We're deeply sorry if we hurt you in any way, but this is the only way we can do it without scaring you even further."

"Scaring me?"

"We need you to improve as much as you can so that when we finally tell you, you won't be nervous. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, but…"

"What sugar queen is trying to say is that we're your friends, Aang. We care deeply for your safety not just because you're some almighty powerful bender." Toph's words caused Aang to blush a little in embarrassment.

"Thanks. I think I get you now. So, whatever the plan is is something you guys think I'm not able to handle now? What if I can handle it though?"

"Aang," there is no way you'll like it the first time you hear it. Trust me," Katara stared hard at Aang. The airbender let his mouth open just a little bit before lowering his head.

"Ok. Well… I…. I'm sorry too for acting this way towards you guys. I was angry for selfish reasons," Aang said as he let his legs stretch out in front of him and his two hands to go behind his back to support his body. "I hope you guys continue to make me see reason. No matter how disagreeable I can get, please stop me. You guys are all I have left for a family." Aang finally broke into a smile as he looked back at Toph and Katara.

"Aang…." Katara smiled back at him. She was pleased that Aang was sounding more like his old self.

"Alright! This cause for another group hug!!" Sokka excitedly yelled scaring Katara and Aang out of their skins. Toph was the only one who didn't budge since she could feel him coming minutes ago. In response to Sokka popping out of nowhere, he was given several blank stares from the people who could see him. "Er, guys?" Sokka watched as everyone stood up and walked away in different directions without a word. Soon, he was the only one left standing in that area. "Sure, leave me out of the fun. It was great chatting with you too!!" he shouted to no one in particular.

--------------------

Another night fell on the Fire Nation. Yet, not everyone was sleeping as Fire Nation guards were busy chasing their most wanted criminal.

"Tch! Just who in the world is this guy!? Thinks he can out-run all of us!?" one guard angrily yelled. The mysterious cloaked masked man was only several feet ahead of his group. The Blue Spirit apparently had a specific target in mind which were the prison tower keys. As soon as the Blue Spirit reached the tower, the tower guards tried their best to ward him off with firebending. Of course, to no avail, the Blue Spirit was able to evade their attacks with ease by blocking them with his twin dagger swords. He was already able to steal a copy of the outer door key and swiftly got himself inside with no trouble.

After knocking the inner prison guards unconscious, the Blue Spirit made his way into the room full of caged cells with the newly obtained set of prison keys. In one lowly corner of the room sat the servant who was timidly listening to the outside noises. The Blue Spirit made his way to the servant's cage and jammed a random key into the cage's keyhole. The key wouldn't budge though, thus indicating that it was the wrong key.

"Hey! What are you doing!? Do you want both of us to be killed!?" the servant asked nervously. "Or, are you here to kill me?"

"Shhh!!" hushed a voice behind the mask. "Keep quiet!" The servant blinked. He thought the muffled voice sounded familiar. The servant obeyed the masked man's order though and watched in silence. He took that time to observe the masked man's features such as his clothing and detailed markings on the mask itself. Repeated sounds of the outer door trying to be banged open could easily be heard. "Even though I locked that door from the inside, that won't be enough to stop them," whispered the Blue Spirit. He worked rapidly key after key trying to find the right one. A few seconds later, the door did eventually open with a loud creek. "Come on!" the Blue Spirited whispered louder as he grabbed the servant by the hand. The servant realized at that moment that his rescuer was shorter than him.

Both men rushed up the stairs with fierce speed. As soon as they got to the surface level of the prison, the Blue Spirit instantly halted their running causing the servant to bump into him.

"Ah! Sorry!" the servant whispered loudly upon impact.

"No time for that!" the Blue Spirit whispered back as he looked for alternative ways out of the tower. Seeing as there were no other ways out, he had no choice but to unlock the main door. "Ok, once I open the door, you must not stop no matter what. Make sure you have your eyes on me at all times. You got that?"

"I think so," the servant answered with a bead of sweat trickling down his cheek. Entrusting a teenager to protect your safety was one thing, he would never expect at all in his life. Let alone….

"Alright!" the Blue Spirit clicked the key into the main door and turned it to the right. The door swung open in an instant. Both men sprinted out of the door, and into the foray of soldiers and guards all gathered in front of the prison. Standing in the front of that opposing force was Azula, herself.

"Hello Blue Spirit, or should I say, Zuzu." She had on a smirk with one hand at her hip. The servant was sure his rescuer would stop upon seeing all these people going up against him. Yet, his rescuer didn't stop. Not once. The servant started to panic thinking they were going to die.

"Grab my hand!" hissed the Blue Spirit as he looked back at the servant.

"Huh!?" the servant had barely any time to think as he felt the Blue Spirit grab a hold of his left hand. As soon as they were within range of Azula, the Blue Spirit kneeled down and created a long barrier of fire by slicing his leg through the air. This sent several of the soldiers and guards running in the opposite direction. Azula, on the other hand, jumped high into the air to avoid getting smacked by the wall of fire. By the time she reached the ground, her prey were already a good distance away from her but not quite far yet. She brought her two hands to her side and made them become fists. She then burst fire out from them allowing her body to be propelled by her fists in order to increase her speed.

xxxxx

The servant was beyond shock at everything that was happening around him. Here he was running for his life from the very people he use to serve. Above all, he was guided by an unexpected person.

"Hold on!" the Blue Spirit's muffled voice came floating out. They were pretty far from the tower area but they were still in the middle of palace territory. "I need you to wait behind that building over there." The Blue Spirit pointed towards a dingy old looking building sitting across from them. "She's coming so you better hide…NOW!" The servant felt himself being pushed towards the building before his legs could regain control. He decided then to keep running towards it without looking back. Only when he got there did he do so. The Blue Spirit took out his twin swords and waited patiently for Azula to come. It didn't take long for the girl's figure to get bigger and bigger.

"Zuzu, ready to dance!?" Azula shouted once she was less than ten feet away. She jumped into the air sending long chains of blue fire onto the Blue Spirit. The Blue Spirit used his swords to block some of it but had to dodge other portions of the raining fire. As soon as she landed on the ground, Azula gave a menacing fit of glee, "It's a shame that you couldn't stay long to have father question you on your failure. I would've enjoyed the moment very very much!!" She sent another streak of fire at the Blue Spirit making sure its agility stayed in tact. Little did she know that the Blue Spirit had a surprise attack waiting for her. Instead of using one of his swords to block the attack, he quickly got into a waterbender's receiving pose and let the fire come at him.

The blue fire instantly slowed down as soon as it reached the Blue Spirit and shot back at Azula in an instant.

"What!?" Azula dodged the blue flame with ease, but did it really go away? She noticed the blue flame making a slight u-turn curve in the air before coming straight at her still. "Impossible!" The Fire Nation's only princess started to run back towards the prison tower with her own blue flame tailing her.

As soon as Azula was out of sight, the Blue Spirit made a quick motion for the servant to come out of his hiding spot.

"That was truly amazing!" the servant ecstatically said as he looked down at his rescuer. "I never seen a firebending move like that before. Who taught you that?" The servant got no answer as the Blue Spirit grabbed a hold of his hand again and lead him further away into the darkness of the night.

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****

To Be Continued.

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**A.N:** A lot of this ending portion became the Blue Spirits story once again. It continues on like that into Episode 7, where some more stuff is revealed. You see, Episode 6 was going beyond 8 pages so I decided to cut it short. ^^;


	7. Episode 7: To Return

**Avatar 03**

**Author Notes:** Upon doing some constructive criticism on myself, I realized that I over-did the Sokka and Toph scenes in the last chapter. I'll make sure to control myself this time. I can't resist putting them in scenarios (for some reason). Also, I am still not a big fan on "too many fan made characters". Much like my other fics, I try to keep the new characters to a minimum amount.

**Disclaimer:** All _Avatar: The Last Airbender _characters belong to Bryan and Mike, Nickelodeon, and (sighs) Viacom. All Rights Are Reserved.

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**Episode 7 - To Return**

The pair have safely made their way out of the palace compound and were able to sneak their way into the outer city. With the security being lax at this time, it was pretty easy to move between both parts of the capital. The servant was beyond joy of seeing the area that he grew up in. He couldn't help but stop every few minutes just to look around at the closed up shops and other homes that were all shabby looking. The Blue Spirit had to constantly tug at his sleeve just to make him keep going. Then, the sudden thought dawned on him. Where exactly was his rescuer leading him to?

Several streets later, he was able to get his answer.

"Over here!" shouted an excited voice coming from a young man, holding a torch, who appeared to be waiting for them. They were in front of Coriander Coltsfoot. The servant read the store's name several times to get familiar with it. He had that sinking feeling that he'll be there for awhile. Both he and the Blue Spirit followed the young man into the shop. As soon as they were far from the store's main entrance, the young man swiftly turned around. "Are you guys alright? I was starting to get worried," the young man, who appeared to be the shop's owner, asked with great concern.

The servant watched the Blue Spirit slowly nod his head before realizing that the young man's attention was now on him.

"Um….. I'm sorry but I don't follow. Who are you and how do you know him? Or, is it vice versa? And why am I here?"

"Telling from your clothing, you came from the palace right?" the young man asked without any hesitation. The servant made a small jump backwards in reaction.

"Ye-yeah. You're good. I'm just a kitchen servant though. Nothing special compared to him." The servant glanced at the Blue Spirit, who stayed silent.

"Well, welcome to Coriander! My name's Bochen Deng but you can simply call me 'Bo'," the shop keeper grinned. "Glad my place can become your hiding spot. You can live here as long as you---"

"Hold on! I have no intention of bringing you trouble that's already on my shoulders! As soon as daylight hits, I plan on running far far away from here."

"Hmm? Tough tough. Are you sure you want to do that?"

"What?"

"You do have to remember that this place is still a part of the royal capital. You'll have to be super stealthy to get through the security at the outer city's border."

"I know that but maybe if I brought him…," the servant didn't finish his sentence. His savior was no longer standing besides them. "Where did he go?"

"He probably went home," Bo carelessly said with a shrug.

"Huh?" The servant gave him a beady eye look.

"He does this all the time. The only reason he comes here is to drop off and pick up his daggers, see?" Bo lifted the daggers and began slicing them through the air as if he was fighting someone. The servant sighed as he gently picked up a nearby empty flower pot.

"Maybe, he isn't who I thought he was…."

xxxxx

The chirps of animals were becoming louder and louder with each passing second. They were mixing with the sounds of running water that were constantly pouring near his ears. His closed eyes started to have light seep into them to a point where he couldn't keep them closed any further. Then, they opened to reveal a world he thought he'd never see. Everything was green around him. A medium size waterfall was falling several feet away. A group of birds quickly flocked from one tree to another.

Then, he noticed it. A familiar scary looking blue mask was sitting by his leg. A black cloak was laying beside it. His mind went blank as he began to back away from those two objects. Pain shot up through his body once he stopped moving.

"Where am I?" Zuko placed a hand to his forehead. He should be in his room, but at this point, he's definitely far from the palace. Why was he aching so badly? Moving his head further up on his head, he felt his hair was loose from its royal bun style. Glancing down at his body, he noticed that he was wearing one of his least formal attire that consisted of a solid dark gray shirt and slacks.

"_We're in our secret place,"_ came a voice that he definitely didn't want to hear. His doppelganger was communicating inside his head.

"So, this is another dream that I'm in?" Zuko asked as he attempted to stand up but couldn't due to the pain.

_"No. As I said, we're in our secret place that only us and a special friend knows."_

"You're not making any sense. I get that this is a secret place but special friend?"

_"I'll explain that another time." _

"What!? Then tell me, at least, as to how I got here or why my body is in this condition? Did you do this!? And why is that mask here!? I thought I got rid of it in Ba Sing Se!"

_"You're not going to get angry at me?"_

"……. Maybe. That all depends on what you tell me."

_"Very well. I can tell you this much that I'm partly responsible for your current body pain. I apologize for that matter, but the other person responsible for your situation is you, yourself."_

"Me?"

_"Yes."_

"Why is that?"

_"Heheh… Such an ignorant question."_

"You!!" Zuko raised his voice a little at the doppelganger. Was he expected to know everything?

_"Right now, you're only using half of your body. You may not notice it, but your body and self went split when you were at Ba Sing Se." _

"Ugh. Now, you're giving me a headache!"

_"I'm sorry. I can't explain this further without getting more technical than I already am."_

"So, what you're telling me is that I don't have total control over my body."

_"Correct."_

"That explains why I keep finding myself in random places in the palace. I hope you didn't do anything weird to me while I was knocked out!"

_"Again, it's not totally me who's controlling your body. It's you….or, the you that you left behind. I'm really a second party here."_

"The me that I left….ragh!! I don't understand any of this!!"

_"There is a way to correct this."_

"Eh?"

_"You must find the truth behind your family's past. Look into the archives of the Fire Sages. There, many answers will come to light."_

"The Fire Sages…"

_"Once you understand that, your uncle's words will be much more meaningful to you," _the doppelganger paused before finishing his sentence, _"I hope"_.

"Hey, do you know where they took my uncle?"

_"……No. I am you, therefore, I don't know."_

"………"

_"You must stay cautious at all times when you return to the palace. You cannot go back to your room as you're no longer welcomed there."_

"Why? What happened!?"

_"You freed a servant from his cell and confronted your sister in front of the tower. She highly suspects that you're the Blue Spirit,"_ the doppelganger's voice reverberated through Zuko's head. The boy's face grew pale.

"No way! She'll definitely tell my father…and I'm not there! Why didn't you bring me back!?"

_"Wake up! Do you think they'll be so stupid to ignore your room last night? They had to check." _At that moment, it finally dawned on Zuko that he can't go back living like how he use to. Then again, was he really happy living that kind of life? Things were missing from his heart and deep down, he was scarred to look.

"Ok, so how do I get out of here?" Zuko asked as he attempted his second try at standing up. He wobbly managed to stand this time while ignoring the pain that shot through his body. Thankfully, he was sitting near a tall bamboo shoot so he grabbed a hold of it to keep his balance. A few seconds went by but his doppelganger's voice never replied back. "Hello? Mr. Voice?" Zuko tapped his head as if there was a little person living in his brain. Again, there was silence from the doppelganger. "This is crazy! I'd be sent to the asylum for this!" He let out a frustrated sigh and decided to walk around the secret place, or wherever he was, in order to charge up his body.

The place was apparently a small clearing surrounded by lots of bamboo shoots and thin trees. The sky was the only visible opening that he could find unless…. Zuko approached the waterfall and examined it closely. He realized how shallow the water was so he carefully took off his boots and waddled into the water. It felt like a brief respite towards whatever his body endured earlier. He sloshed through the water until he got close to the waterfall. Its roaring easily drowned out any other sound behind him. He poked his hand through the fall and suddenly, a flash of deja vu went through him like a knife. "??" _That's strange. _

After that feeling went away, Zuko extended his arm out further and discovered a hidden tunnel behind it. The boy paused for a few seconds before throwing himself through the rushing water but his head collided with a wall. "Oof!!" Zuko stumbled backwards and collapsed bottom down into the shallow pool of water. He groaned rubbing his head. Apparently, the tunnel's hole was shorter than his height. Getting onto his hands and knees, Zuko baby crawled towards the waterfall. He closed his eyes tight once he got under and through the roaring water. His body, already wet, no longer felt the water's coldness as it sloshed over him.

Once he was inside the narrow tunnel, he followed it carefully as there was very little light. Whoever created the tunnel didn't make it smooth. There were several bumps and jaggy surfaces throughout the tunnel. Three-thirds in, Zuko felt like he touched something that didn't feel like a bump so he quickly created a ball of fire just to see what it was. To his amazement, his hand was touching the handprint of a child. Zuko stared at it as if entranced by the small handprint before forcing himself to look away. Why did he suddenly feel strange over that handprint? Is it possible that a child created this crude but impressive tunnel?

Another minute passed before Zuko finally reached the tunnel's end, which opened up to the edge of a dense forest. The worn out prince slowly got to his feet as soon as he was out of the tunnel. He instantly recognized the area as an outskirts portion of the outer city. Zuko glowered his eyebrows a little as he stared up to look at the inner city peaking out above the trees. His family would be waiting for him should he return.

--------------------

"No, Aang! Stop!" shouted Katara as she was running towards a blindfolded monk. He was practicing on a new waterbending move that involved freezing opponents. Unfortunately, Aang ended up freezing himself. Most of his body was covered in ice except for his head.

"So, how did I do?" he grinned sheepishly.

"Since this is your first try, it's not too bad," Katara gave a half earnest reply once she was right next to the frozen Aang. "Now, can you melt yourself out of this mess?"

"Melt?"

"Yeah. I know you haven't been practicing your firebending as of late."

Even though Aang's eyes were covered by the blindfold, Katara could easily see his eyebrows tilting downward. Firebending wasn't the best subject for the young boy to deal with. The last and only attempt that he made of firebending ended up disastrous. "I don't think I can do it."

"Sure, you can."

"No, really! I can't do it! I don't want to do it! I said that I'd never do it again back then. Well, I'm still standing by it!"

"Aang…."

"Let it go, Katara. He's traumatized from that incident, remember? He'll probably be the only Avatar to master three elements and that should still be ok, right? Better than mastering just one element? Hehe…" Sokka grinned once he reached the end of his sentence and displayed two thumbs up at Aang. He was walking towards them in a casual manner. Katara sadly looked to the ground.

"It might be ok now, but when that time comes…. I can't help but shake off the feeling that something bad will happen."

"You worry too much, little sister! Aang has three elements on his side. The Fire Lord only has one. Now, what's greater? Three or one? The answer is simple. Three, of course! The Fire Lord will definitely cower before Aang. I'm sure of it!"

"But, the Fire Lord is the most powerful bender in the Fire Nation. It doesn't really matter how many abilities you have if you can't master your own enemy's power."

"Katara's right," Toph's voice floated from above everyone's heads. The blind earthbender was laying on her back on a thick tree branch. The tree, itself, is right behind Aang. "I may be the smallest competitor in earthbending tournaments but that didn't stop me from overcoming a lot of my opponents. You can't underestimate who you're going against."

"G-Guys….," Aang's voice interrupted their discussion in a form of chattering teeth, "can we discuss this af-af-ter I'm out!?"

"Ack, sorry! Forgot you were still in it!" Katara raised her hands gently up before lowering them in front of her. The ice became water and flowed uncontrollably into the grass. Aang immediately wrapped his arms around his body in order to return warmth into it. "See, if you mastered fire, you won't be doing that." Aang bowed his head in silence. He couldn't accept that his friends were right.

The monk continued to rub his arms for a few more seconds, but stopped in an instant when the most obvious fact hit him. "Oh wait! What am I doing?" Aang took off his blindfold in order to push his right fist into the palm of his left hand. He snorted out as much air as he could muster in order to air dry every part of his body and clothing. Upon drying himself, Aang inspected his clothing one more time. This gave Katara an idea for a change of subject.

"I think we have to go into a Fire Nation village."

"Huh? Why!?" Sokka expressed an exaggerated horrified look at his sister.

"Our clothing isn't exactly Fire Nation material if we're planning on going in there."

"True. When do you want to go?"

"Later this afternoon."

"This afternoon!? We just got here!"

"Yes, but the sooner the better."

"We still have time."

"Sokka, the Day of Black Sun is a couple of weeks away. We can't waste any more time than we already have. Staying put on this island isn't going to help us, either!"

"Well…then…. Maybe, I'll stay behind while you guys go. Someone needs to watch the island anyways."

"Sokka," Katara had a twinge of annoyance creeping onto her face. "Did you notice that we didn't eat anything today?"

"Erm, yeah, but I thought I'd hunt for some fish. Aang could go get some berries. Toph can easily find us some land meat." At the mention of her name, Toph punched the side of the tree branch that she was laying on. Several twigs came falling out of the branch and perfectly nailed Sokka on the head. "Hey!"

"Don't rely on me to do your dirty work," Toph said as she picked some stuff out of her nose. Sokka grumbled looking up at the tree. He wasn't entirely at peace due to yesterday's fight about the Mechanist's gift.

"Um, question?" Aang felt he had to come in somewhere or else, Toph and Sokka might just start a mini war.

"Yes Aang?" Katara asked with relief. She was also getting tired of the Toph and Sokka vibe.

"Just where exactly are we anyways?"

"Sokka, you were the last person guiding Appa. You know better than me as to where we are." Everyone turned their attention to the tallest member of their group.

"Oh,…..riiiight…," Sokka half-enthusiastically replied and rubbed the back of his head. "We're somewhere north of a place called Ember Island and south of the Earth Kingdom. Not that close to the royal capital but it's good enough. The Mechanist gave us a better version of the four kingdoms' map. It contains a lot of names and better detail." Sokka reached towards one of his back pockets to pull out a rolled up map. He unfurled the parchment and held it up high. "See? Isn't it great!? It's also going to be our rendezvous point with other people who are going to help us."

Aang didn't really care one way or the other about the updated map. His eyes are starry as he stared at one particular spot on the map. "Ember Island? I love Ember Island! Let's go!" Aang made a small air hop before rushing towards Appa, who was still sleeping on his side. Momo, who was pretty much invisible for most of the day, came flying out of Toph's tree and followed his master with quick flaps. Katara and Sokka exchanged glances thinking similar thoughts that it's been awhile since Aang looked this happy. Maybe, too happy?

xxxxx

Aang is back in control of Appa's rein with brimming excitement. Everyone else have resumed their sitting positions on Appa's back. Sokka and Katara sat on opposite sides. Toph is laying on her back near the rear.

"I thought you didn't want to go?" Katara asked Sokka, with a serious face.

"Originally, but look at Aang! He's acting funny…" Sokka raised one eyebrow at the monk's back. "So, I'm curious. What makes Ember Island great?"

"It's the most magical wondrous place in the entire Fire Nation!" Aang piped up in a sing-song type of voice. Sokka and Katara let their mouths hang open. Has Aang lost his mind!?

--------------------

After much inner debate with himself, Zuko decided he had to get back to the palace somehow. Would his family believe him if he said everything was a misunderstanding? He wanted to doubt the doppelganger's words, and yet, he couldn't bring his heart to do so.

Zuko left the so-called "secret place" area and traveled through the forest. He had to avoid both the outer and inner parts of the city at all costs, but how? How did his doppelganger do it? Did he fly? Did he magically transport his body from one part of the capital to the other? Zuko immediately halted his thoughts. His speculations were starting to get ridiculous. _Fly… I wish._

It took him a good twenty-three minutes to reach the hill that starts the path up to the inner city. As usual, there were hordes of people lined up waiting patiently for their turns to get through the checkpoint. But, what's this? Something seemed different at the checkpoint. Zuko crouched behind some bushes that were still a part of the forest. The checkpoint is adjacent to his hiding spot giving him a good view of everything.

The checkpoint guards were inspecting people's packages and identification papers, which is the normal routine. What's new is that the guards kept grabbing people's faces and looking them dead in the eyes. It didn't matter who it was. Men, women, elderly, and even children. Zuko narrowed his good eye. Did his people have to suffer this much just because of him?

After one of the checkpoint guards inspected a farmer, the next person up was a young boy no younger than ten. This boy didn't have anything on him, which gave an air of suspicion to the guard.

"Young man, you have nothing on you?"

"That's right, sir," the boy said as he placed one hand in his pocket.

"Stop!" yelled the guard as he brought down a lance and held it at the boy's throat level. The boy froze immediately with his hand still in his pocket. "Just what do you think you're doing?"

"I'm getting out my I.D!" the boy nervously replied trying hard to not look at the lance.

"Give it to me, boy," demanded the guard not lowering the lance. The child hastily went through his pocket and took out a crumpled piece of paper.

"He-here!" The boy raise the paper in front of him with a shaking left hand. The guard swiped the paper out of the boy's possession, flatten it, and began reading. It only took him a few seconds before finding something wrong with the paper.

"!!…. This document is expired!"

"That's…that's why I was going into the inner city. To renew it!"

"Foolish boy. Only those of higher class are allowed to renew their identifications in the inner city. Aren't the outer city centers good enough for you?"

"No, they're not! Papa said that the inner city ones are better. They give out free medicine! I want to get that to help my sick Mama!!" as soon as the boy shouted this, he stomped the guard's foot as hard as he could and grabbed the paper from the guard. The boy dashed through the check point and up the slope.

"Stop him!" the guard half moaned his plea while bending on one knee to touch his aching foot. Fortunately for the guard, there were other guards coming down the slope heading in the boy's direction. This left relief for the rest of the checkpoint guards. They did not want to leave their posts.

The incoming guards were able to corner the boy, who tried to slip past them but failed. Once the boy was subdued, the guards started to debate the boy's fate.

"What should we do with him?"

"He is a minor. We should take him back to his home,"

"No, this child should be a taught a lesson of going into the inner city so badly. Maybe, a night in the prison cell would do him some good? Make him learn his place."

"How about we punish him in front of all these people and make them think twice of disobeying us?"

"Let go! I don't have much time!" the boy cried out as he tried to yank himself free from one of the guards' hold on his arm. The guards, of course, ignored the child's plea. At this point, Zuko had seen enough. The Fire Nation's only prince stood up from his hiding spot and marched right through the checkpoint pushing aside anyone who was in front of him.

"Excuse me, sir!" yelled out a female guard. "We didn't clear you, yet!"

"Try me," Zuko said turning around staring dead straight at all the guards. As soon as they saw his face, there was chorus of random shouts coming from them.

"It's the Prince!"

"The Prince returned!"

"Escort him, immediately!"

"Make sure he doesn't get away!"

"Take him to the Fire Lord!"

Zuko felt their bodies approaching him. Many of the guards left their checkpoint posts, thus, leaving the line of waiting people stranded. Zuko looked out from the corner of his eye at the guards on the slope. They were also coming down towards his direction taking the child with them. He took a deep breath before stating what he needed to say. "I will go with you guys on one condition."

"What is it, your Highness?" asked the first guard who stopped right beside him. Eventually, he will be surrounded by all the guards with very little room to move.

"I want you to take that boy safely home. He shouldn't be around here on his own."

The guard slightly bowed upon hearing the order. "Very well." He turned to relay the order to the incoming guards who were dragging the child with them.

"Nooo! I need to get the medicine!" the child screamed with tears flowing down his face. "Mama is going to die!"

Zuko gripped one of his hands into a tight fist with his back towards the departing group of guards. Flashes of his own mother popped into his mind until the child's screams could be heard no more.

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**To Be Continued….**

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**A.N:** I'm suffering from finals-engitus. I end up doing this more so than my papers due this week. Ugh. Because of that, I completed the next chapter too, but I won't release that until somewhere in May (sorry..). Let's just say, in Episode 8, a character from Season 1 shows up.


	8. Episode 8: Reminisce

**Avatar 03**

**Author Notes:** Another self-inflicted critique is that I used too many pronouns in my last starting A.N. I apologize for tha----!! Ahhh! Did it again! *bashes head against wall* Ok, from now on, I'm going to use pronouns in Japanese! Yesh!! Atashi wa "I" ga eiji de kakumasen!! ……..Just kidding on the Japanese part.

On the main note, you guys will probably find this chapter a little more confusing than usual. If not, good for you. (grins and thumbs up)

**Disclaimer:** All _Avatar: The Last Airbender _characters belong to Bryan and Mike, Nickelodeon, and (sighs) Viacom. All Rights Are Reserved.

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Episode 8 - Reminisce

The Aang gang reached Ember Island as the sun was starting to set. They had to travel to a non-populated part of the island in order to not draw up any suspicion. Once they settled in a secluded area, Appa went right back to sleep. Momo decided to stick by Appa and sleep with him. Katara said she spotted something of interest in the island's forest, while they were up in the air, so she went to investigate it. The remaining group had to wait.

"We'realmostthere!Canyouguysfeeltheexcitement?IknowIcan!" Aang blurted all that out in one breath and was about to dash right off to where civilization was. Thankfully, Sokka had a firm grip on the boy's shoulder, which prevented Aang from even taking his first real step.

"Hold on! You shouldn't be acting all happy about this!!" Sokka looked like he was going to have a nervous break down due to a hyper airbender. "It's been over a hundred years since you've been here. How do you know everything's going to be the same?"

"Yeah, twinkletoes. This is Fire Nation territory we're talking here. Not paradise!" Toph crossed her arms as she walked up to where Sokka and Aang were standing. Aang could only grin.  
"Because, it's like a third home to me."

"Third home?" Sokka looked at Aang with a blank stare.

"Yeah. I would sometimes come here to play with a friend whenever it's summer. We'd fool around all day by the beach. This place is amazing! I know you'll love it, Sokka."

"Me!?"

"Yeah, you know.. Girls?" At the mention of this, Sokka's eyes lit up.

"… Even if they're Fire Nation girls…. Ok! If Katara doesn't come back soon, let's go!"

"And I'll stop you two if you do go," Toph said smiling evilly at the thought of doing so. The two boys immediately fell silent.

"I'm back!" Katara announced as she tumbled out of the forest carrying something heavy looking. "It's good that there's an abandoned shack near here. I wouldn't have been able to find these laying around." She carefully dropped her findings onto the ground, which were old Fire Nation clothing.

"Oh! You found Old Man's shack! That's great, Katara!" Aang said as he bended down to pick up some clothing.

"Blegh! Couldn't you find something that didn't smell?" Toph held her nose tightly.

"Sorry, this is all I could find." Katara kneeled down to sort the clothing out. "I'll clean them but I'll need your help, Aang." She turned to look at the Avatar, who didn't respond. He seemed to be thinking of something. "Aang?"

"Ah! Sorry! Sure, I'll help!" Aang grabbed a handful of the clothing and began separating them. It was clear on his face that he was semi-reminiscing through his past. Katara glanced worriedly at the boy. This island can be full of nostalgia, but he shouldn't let his guard down.

"And what should I do?" Toph asked tilting her head a little.

"You can make two sets of tables right by the water." Katara answered as she neatly folded a dark red shirt.

"No problem. Finally! Something to do!" Toph cheered and went off on her way. Now, Sokka was the only one left with nothing to do.

"And what about me!?" he asked directly in his sister's face. "You have something planned for me, right? RIGHT!?"

"Before, no, but now that I think of it… We might be staying here longer than expected. Go fetch us some firewood." Katara watched her brother's face grow droopy at the mention of 'firewood'. She lightly chuckled. "Ha… If you want to prove your usefulness even more, go get us some food ol' great hunter brother of mine." Sokka's face changed into enthusiasm. He quickly hugged his sister before disappearing into the forest.

--------------------

SLAP!

Zuko felt his right cheek burn. He was facing a very angry Mai in the palace hallway. Ty Lee was on the side watching with nervous eyes and a cupped hand to her mouth.

"Where have you been? Azula told me all about your adventure last night," Mai demanded. Zuko looked away. "And furthermore, just what is with those stupid ugly flowers you gave me? You left me very confused!"

"Those were an apology gift! I thought you understood. Well, I'm in a complex situation right now. It's hard to explain. Especially, to you!" Zuko snapped as he turned back to face Mai. The air was full of tension, which was something he didn't want.

"Complex? Do you think I care?"

"No, I never expected you to care at all!" Zuko stormed through the hallway and into another one leaving the two girls alone. Mai stood dead still with her back facing where Zuko once stood. Ty Lee walked over to Mai and placed a hand gently onto her arm. She looked up sadly at her friend.

"It's ok. I'm here. We'll get through this together." Ty Lee cracked a small smile. Both girls stood like that for some time.

xxxxx

He didn't really mean to hurt her, but it all came out like that. His frustration. His feelings. Ever since he got back to the palace, everyone acted like he never left. Even his father, who he saw briefly. Azula played innocent in his presence making up an excuse that Zuko went on a full day-trip to see the kingdom. That left him an instant hint that Azula was planning something.

Exhausted, he walked quietly back to his room looking forward to a nice nap. His doppelganger was wrong. Completely… Zuko stopped in his tracks once he reached his bedroom door. The door was slightly opened meaning someone either checked to see if he was in or literally went into his room. If there was an intruder, was this person still in his room? He immediately reached for the surface of the door. A feeling of anticipation washed over his senses. He was about to give one small push on the door when the voice came booming into his head.

_"What are you doing!? Didn't I tell you to go to the catacombs!?" _

"Ah! Don't do that! I'm planning on going soon. I just want to see what's inside my room."

_"Liar. I can tell you were going to sleep in your nice comfy bed. Well, rest assured, a trap has been placed there."_

"And how do you know that?" Zuko realized his voice was a little loud so he quieted down into a whisper.

_"Look up slowly but try not to make it obvious."_

Zuko did as the voice instructed. Sure enough, he indirectly notice two Dai Li agents hanging out on his ceiling. The prince froze in place. His sister definitely had something up her sleeve.

He backed out slowly from his bedroom door and proceeded down the hallway. He carefully made his way through the palace trying not to run into any servants. Once Zuko made it outside, it was there that he was confronted by some of the palace guards watching the outside gate.

"Where are you going on this fine evening, your Highness?"

"A…ah, um… I was heading to the Central Royal Library. I need to look up something there," the prince responded with a half lie. He still wasn't as good as his uncle in the creativity department.

The guards exchanged looks and nods with each other. Without talking, they all looked back at Zuko. "You may go. Please do not stray far again." They bowed and opened the gate. The prince almost felt like he could jet right through but remained calm while going through it. _It seems my doppelganger never went this way on his night excursions. _

The trip to the Capital Temple didn't take him long. It was only a couple of blocks away from the palace. Since it was dinnertime, not many people were out and about to his relief. Zuko wasn't wearing a cloak but he wasn't wearing any formal clothing either. So, he didn't stick out much unless people took better looks at him.

Upon reaching the temple, Zuko took a cautionary way to get in. He definitely did not want to be seen by any Sage. Hallway corners became his best companions as he constantly hid his way through this confusing complex. He's only been in there twice as a child. Both visits were with his mother. His father would never dare step into the place. Not in a million years.

Later on, at his 12th hiding spot, Zuko felt someone tap three times on his shoulder. He turned around slowly to find a Fire Sage smiling up at him. Zuko blinked as if he was looking at an illusion. It was the same guy from a few months ago at the now destroyed Fire Temple. The one who helped the Aang get in contact with Avatar Roku. Zuko almost jumped away from the Sage due to him being seen.

"Shhh shh! Don't be alarmed, your Highness! You're fortunate that I saw you," whispered Shyu. He looked around cautiously before continuing his talk with Zuko. "So, what brings you to our temple?"

"I'd like to ask you the same thing! You're free from prison? What are you doing here? Aren't you on the Avatar's side?" Zuko whispered back.

"I know it's a risk just to be here, but, I want to make sure Roku's legacy is preserved well. This is the only temple left. I can't just walk away from something that I worked on for years. I was given a secret royal pardon from someone special. Hence, why I'm not behind bars. The Fire Temple Sages forgave me, awhile back, for doing something that I felt was the right thing to do."

"And…," Zuko whispered slowly, "do you still think you did the right thing?" His whisper nearly got caught in his throat.

Shyu smiled with a thoughtful gleam in his eyes. "Of course. No regrets. I did what my heart told me to do. I wasn't afraid of repercussions. This world needs to have a balance, and so far, your father is influencing the balance to become one sided."

Zuko let his unkempt hair hide his eyes. Deep down inside, he knew all along that his father wasn't a good person. That his father took territory that didn't belong to him. What was he expecting from the Fire Lord? What did he want? Was it forgiveness for speaking out of turn?

"Again," Shyu interrupted Zuko's train of thoughts, "why are you here, your Highness? Is there something you need to know regarding the Avatar?"

"A-actually, I don't really know. I was told to look up something about my family's past," as soon as Zuko said that, Shyu walked past him and into the vast open corridor.

"Come, your Highness! I suppose it's time for you to know everything. Your uncle was right. You are not your father or sister. You are you. Hurry! Follow me!"

"What?" Zuko mouthed silently as he watched the Sage walk further into the corridor. _This guy knew Uncle?_

He clearly did not see a connection that Shyu made earlier.

xxxxx

The Fire Sage led Zuko to a large room with an unusual symbol painted on the floor. (The symbol was shaped like a plant.) They walked onto the center of the symbol. Zuko felt a little lost as to what they were going to do, but got his question answered once the Fire Sage aimed some fire at two circles located at opposite ends of the room. The symbol shook before going down pass the floor. Once the lift stopped, its passengers got off and traverse a long dark corridor without saying anything. On both sides of the corridor, there were shelves filled with skeletons. Many of them consisted of dead soldiers and Sages. Shyu had a ball of fire lighting their way through the dreadful place. They soon ended up in a large study room filled with ancient reading material from top to bottom. A medium size fireplace sat near a desk and served as the room's only light source.

Zuko was amazed. He never seen such a place like it before. Shyu waltzed over to one specific drawer and pulled out a long parchment. This parchment appeared to be extremely old. He carried it over to where Zuko was standing.

"Read this please," Shyu insisted. "These are the writings of your great grandfather himself." Zuko's eyes widened. His great-grandfather? The young prince carefully grabbed a hold of the parchment and carried it over to the desk. He sat down and began reading it immediately. "When you're done reading, please feel free to read anything else you find here. I'll be tending to something down on the other side of the catacombs, but will be back shortly." Shyu's voice seemed to dissipate along with the rest of the room. Zuko was starting to be engrossed in Sozin's writing, as if, he was there in the past witnessing it firsthand.

xxxxx

When Zuko was done with the parchment, he carefully rolled it and put it back to its original location. Everything started to look different to him now. The floor. The walls. The stacks of books and paper in the room. Even the fireplace. He placed one hand on his scar and closed his eyes. Even his scar feels different. Then, the sudden thought hit him. He needed to know more. This parchment, alone, wasn't enough. What more could he learn from the real history that his great-grandfather twisted?

_"Well, what do you think?"_ the doppelganger's voice popped in as if he was right next to Zuko the entire time.

"What do I think? I……I just can't believe all of this happened! It's depressing."

_"Truth hurts all the time. Once you know it, you can never go back." _

"But, what do I do? I mean, what should I do? Everyone in the kingdom is living under a false history! People around the world are suffering because of our history and my father. Ragh!!"

_"Calm down. You've been doing a lot as of late actually."_

"Huh?"

_"Remember, you helped a lot of people in the outer city over their troubles. They've been meaning to thank you whole-heartedly but you keep disappearing on them."_

Suddenly, Zuko's head started to ring. He clutched his head and bended over on the chair. Images and voices started to appear before him. They consisted of people that he buried at the back of his mind. Following those images are images of his uncle and mother. All of these swirled around him. Teasing him. Coaxing him to embrace them with open arms. Without knowing it, Zuko stood up and actually had his arms wide open. As soon as he grabbed the air in front of him, a new image appeared. Faint broken voices echoing abound.

"….wha…..na..me?

"It -------"

"Ni….ame!"

"No, a…..it's….."

"I s..ee. Bu…your….."

"Eh…ye…ah. Haha.. I gu…did."

"You're…..ky…"

Zuko collapsed with a thud onto the floor. He weakly mumbled something before completely blacking out.

xxxxx

"Your Highness! Are you alright!?" Shyu's concerned voice made Zuko slowly open his eyes. The Prince found himself lying on his side on the cool floor. He stayed that way for a few more seconds until he decided to sit up.

"Yes. I'm fine. I must've fallen asleep," Zuko said ending with a huge yawn.

"That's good, but on the floor?"

"Uh, yes! On the floor. Sorry to make you worry." Zuko light-heartedly grinned stunning Shyu like a knife. Grinning and the hot headed prince didn't seem to match. The grin didn't last long though as he flashed it for only a few seconds. Shyu didn't feel convinced by that quick grin.

"Are you sure you're feeling ok?"

"I'm good! Really!" Zuko got to his feet in order to show that he was healthy. "You know, I somehow feel relaxed now. Before, I bottled up so many feelings inside of me that I couldn't think clearly."

"That's called a peace of mind, your Highness," Shyu smiled softly. He was starting to like this prince's new attitude. His face does appear to be calmer now.

"You know what? I AM sorry! I was rude to you, earlier. Let's start over. Your name is…?"

"Shyu."

"Shyu. Then, please call me by my name, 'Zuko'. You don't have to call me by any formality. I….don't deserve it to be honest." He looked down at the floor.

"But, you---I mean, Zuko. To me, you're truly the kingdom's Prince. I'm sure you can guide its people to a better life more so than your father. I'm sorry, but that's my honest opinion."

"I was banished from the nation. Spent two years chasing after the Avatar. Harassed someone to teach me how to fight. Burned down a village. Threatened an old woman. Kidnap a child. Stole things from Earth Kingdom people. Betrayed my uncle. I've done some pretty cruel things," the young boy shook his head in disgust. "It's not going to be easy for me to make it all up. I will need help, or, should that be the other way around?"

"When you're one in a million individuals willing to stand up to what they believe in, it's essential to keep yourself focus on that goal. Lose that focus, you'll never overcome your problems. Also, having good relationships with others strengthen you spiritually and emotionally. United , the strength of many becomes one allowing you to have the power to change the world." The Fire Sage's words touched Zuko in many ways. They were uplifting his own spirit. The old him might've easily glossed over those words, but now, he was paying extreme attention. And why was that? The answer was simple. They reflected what his uncle has been trying to tell him all along. He thought he listened in Ba Sing Se. He thought….

"Thank you. I feel indebted for you to show me this," Zuko made a swift bow towards Shyu. Perhaps, his very first bow towards anyone in his life. Shyu was taken back a little by this, but then, responded by bowing as well.

"No. Thank you for reminding me that there is still hope in this kingdom." Shyu stood up straight to deliver the last few important words that he wanted to say. "What I showed you was only a taste of it. The real truth can be found through him." He turned his head to the left to look at a big wall scroll painting of Avatar Roku. Zuko knew right away who he really meant but didn't say anything.

--------------------

Nighttime blanketed Ember Island like a fast moving wave. The Aang gang managed to do with what they can since most of their provisions were back on their secret island. Sokka was able to nab some fish. The old Fire Nation clothing was washed and properly dried. Each member tried on the outfits seeing which one fitted them best.

Aang ended up wearing a red shirt with white shorts. A crimson red bandana is wrapped tightly on his head covering the blue arrow. Sokka took out the short sleeves on his orange shirt. His shorts are red with darker tints at the end. Katara has on a one piece dark red color summer dress. There were flower patterns sown on it. Toph, with the help of Katara, managed to find a sleeveless shirt and ripped shorts that fit her style very much. They all seemed ready to go into the Island's village area, but Katara decided to hold them back for the night. This left Aang and Sokka disappointed.

Everyone was gathered around a small campfire that Sokka and Aang created out of frustration of not being able to go.

"Loosen up you two. Let's have some fun before going to sleep," Katara tried to cheer up the depressed portion of the group. She was pleased that the left over clothing could serve as their beds. Toph, of course, was satisfied enough to sleeping on the ground.

"Fun, huh? How about a little mud fight? We're near perfect conditions for one!" the earthbender turned her body towards the ocean. Everyone else gave her weird looks, which she couldn't see.

"Toph, isn't it late for that? I was thinking of maybe a ghost story."

"Ghosts!?" Sokka sat up from his lying down position. He was thinking of Yue when he was staring up at the star-filled sky. "Does it have to be ghosts?"

"Geeze, Mr. Scaredy-cat. Did you want them to be about us?" Toph, this time, was the one lying down on the ground. "We've been doing that for the last past campfires! Don't you think we should do something different?"

"Different? Yeahh, different. Different is a good reason. Yes! Oh wait! I got a good one!" Sokka childishly yelled out. "Aang, you mentioned earlier about this friend of yours." At this, Aang almost felt like holding his breath before nodding in excitement.

"Yeah! My friend from the Fire Nation! I guess I never told you guys this, before, did I?" His question garnered consecutive head shakings. "A long time ago, Gyatso and some other monks took me on my first Fire Nation tour. It was here where I first met him."

"So, the kid lived on this island?" Sokka asked raising his eyebrows. Aang shook his head slowly.

"I don't really know. I saw him a few times at the royal capital too. Anyways, how we met was kind of cool."

xxxxxflashbackxxxxx

Nine-years old Aang was standing still listening carefully to the ocean's waves. This was the first time he ever been to a beach. The sand felt soft and warm. The sunshine was abundant. Very different from the air temples that he grew up with. He spun around around before letting his body fall onto the sand. He then proceeded to make a sand angel.

"Hey, bald kid! Just what are you doing?" asked a random Fire Nation boy, who stopped on the beach's boardwalk to watch him. Without getting up, Aang replied in a joyful tone of voice.

"Having fun! Do you want to join me?"

"Pfft! Why would I want to do THAT with you?? Have fun by yourself!" the boy walked away laughing hard. Aang shrugged and continued on with making his sand angel. His fun was shortly interrupted by a new set of voices that were on the beach. A bunch of older children were surrounding a younger boy. The boy was no taller than Aang's height and had straight dark hair. He was hunched over with one arm twisted around his back held by a kid with fuzzy hair.

"Owwa! Stop it!"

"Aww, am I gripping you too hard? Promise to stop interfering with our work and maybe, we'll let you go!"

"So what? I'm not afraid of you guys! You keep picking on kids smaller than you. That's not right at all! One day, I bet someone stronger than you will teach you a lesson!"

"Am I suppose to expect someone like that to come out right away as soon as you said that? Get real! This isn't a fairytale!"

"Hey!" Aang walked up to the group in a casual way. "What's going on?" The older boys stopped their jeering and turned their heads to look at the airbender.

"It's another small fry. This one looks weird though. He has no hair and what's with that arrow on his head? His clothing looks bizarre. Is he a foreigner?" one of the older boys expressed puzzlement upon Aang's appearance.

"Dude, I think he's an airbender. I've seen some pictures of what they look like and I think that's one," said a second boy as he scratched his back.

"Seriously? What's an airbender doing all the way here in the Fire Nation?"

"I'm here on vacation!" grinned Aang, "Do you guys want to play with me?" It only took a second for the older boys to react with a roar of laughter.

"Is he kidding us? Can't he tell that we're picking on this other kid!? What a joke!"

"Yeah, sure little man. We'll play with you just like what we're doing with this other boy. You can join him if you want."

"Really?" Aang pumped his fists with happiness. "Ok, then." He formed a ball of air under his feet and kicked it towards the older boys. "Catch this!" The ball of air made a direct hit with two of the boys sending them to the ground.

"H-hey wait little man! When we said play, we didn't mean by---AGH!" the boy, from earlier, felt his jaw get in contact with a full blast of air. He was sent flying into the sand and stayed there for a long time. The rest of the older children, who were still standing, stared at Aang nervously. Soon, they all ran from the area in different directions crying for help. The fuzzy hair kid was the last to go letting his victim off by shoving him into the sand.

"Ohf!" yelled the younger boy as he hit the sand chest first. Tiny drops of tears were dripping from his eyes. Once he was laying on the sand, he carefully scooted backwards in order to get into a sitting up position. It was then that he remembered the airbender so he looked up at the boy who saved him.

"Are you ok?" Aang held one hand towards him. "Those guys were really scary, huh?"

"Th-thank you," the boy grabbed Aang's hand and took his time to get back onto his feet.

"Wait-a-minute!" Toph's voice crashed into Aang's story. "How is that possible!? You knocked some kids down with your silly balls of air? That's so cheap!"

"But, they were only a few years older than me at that time. They didn't weigh too much so I guess, it was easy to knock them down," Aang said as he gave an awkward glance at Toph. The earthbender made a humph sound and slammed her hands onto the ground. Her earth tent shot up quickly hiding her from everyone.

"I've heard enough! Good night!" were Toph's last words for the evening. Katara sighed as she laid down on her bed made of jackets.

"I think we should all go to sleep. We got a shopping excursion tomorrow."

"But, I'm not done!" Aang protested lightly.

"Another time. Maybe tomorrooooow," the waterbender yawned slurring her final word, "Look at Sokka. He's already sleeping like a wompossum." True enough, Sokka was face down on a bunch of shorts not moving except for his back.

"Alright. I give in. Good night, Katara," Aang glumly said as he laid down. He turned to his side to peer into the forest's darkness. Almost as if he was waiting for it to swallow him in.

"Good night, Aang." The sound of Katara shifting on her custom made bed could be heard.

Once, the area was totally silent except for the crackling of the fire, Aang shifted on his shirt bed to look up at the sky with a sad smile. "Good night, Kuzon."

--------------------

In a dim lit room with no windows, five men were hunched over a tiny table. Each of them baring news from all corners of the four nations. Their voice levels were kept to a minimum as they did not want to arouse any outside attention. Suddenly, the door could be heard knocking and everyone hushed at an instant. One of the men walked over to the door and slid open a narrow slot located in the middle of the door. On the other side was a stranger wearing a long black coat. His features, from head to toe, were completely hidden leaving no skin to be seen anywhere. When he recited the password, his voice was muffled clearly indicating that something was covering his mouth.

The door opened to let the stranger in. He strolled inside at a brisk pace. Once the door was closed, the figure lifted the black hood off of his head. His appearance received a wide range of gasps in the room. Some of the room's members approached the newcomer cautiously, as they weren't quite sure of what they were seeing. Then, they took one step back as the stranger spoke.

"Please do not be alarmed. I've come to make my presence known. I'm on your side even in the shadows."

"Aren't you….?" spoke up the person nearest to the newcomer.

"Yes, but I will not be alone. I've come to offer my assistance. In exchange, I need you to tell me two things."

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****

To Be Continued….

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**A.N:** Done with finals! Yes!! *collapses*


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